Period 2.5B BP – 1837

Period 2.5B BP – 1837 for South-western Canada

• 2.5B BP
  First Ice Age. Huronian.
• 40M BP
  Present Ice Age begins in Antarctic and affecting North America by three million years Before Present. Four major advances: Nebraskan, Kansan, Illinoian and Wisconsinan.
• 30M BP
  Rockies begin to rise.
• 12,000 BP
  Begins the retreat of the Wisconsinan ice sheet from southern Canada.
• 1519
  Hernando ‘Hernán’ Cortéz returned horses to North America near what is today Vera Cruz, Mexico.
• 1608 July 3
  Samuel de Champlain et al officially found the settlement of Québec.
• 1610
  Henry Hudson sails the Discovery into what is now the Canadian bay named after him. There he overwintered, much to the displeasure of his crews who mutiny’d in the spring and set Hudson and his supporters adrift to perish on the waters of the Bay.
• 1659
  Looking for furs, Pierre Ésprit Radisson and Médard Chouart (Sieur Des Groseilliers) explore from the St. Laurence valley to Hudson Bay.
• 1668
  Piloted by Médard Chouart, the first English merchant ship, the Nonsuch, sails into Hudson Bay for furs.
• 1669
  Piloted by Pierre Radisson, the second English merchant ship, the Wivenhoe, sails into Hudson Bay for furs.
• 1670 May 2
  Royal assent granted by Charles II incorporating the Governor and Company of Adventurers of England Tradeing into Hudson’s Bay: Pro Pelle Cutem; “for the fleece (we want) the skin.”
• 1680
  Circa Spanish settlers forced to leave the Santa Fé area, abandoning some horses.
• 1682
  René-Robert Cavelier (Sieur de La Salle) claimed the watershed of the Mississippi for Louis XIV of France.
• 1690
  Henry Kelsey of the HBC leaves York Factory, beginning a two-year adventure into the hinterland of North America. Attached himself to an Assiniboine band.
• 1725
  Circa The Ktunaxa and Shoshoni peoples intoduce the Horse to the Niitsi-tapi—Blackfoot—nations.
• 1730
  Until circa 1750 the “Cluny Site” on what is now Indian Reserve No. 148 on the Bow River east of Calgary, Alberta, occupied by maize growers.
• 1743
  Louis-Joseph Gautier, son of Pierre Gauthier de Varennes, Sieur de La Vérandrye, sees the Rocky Mountains (likely in what is now Wyoming, US of A.)
• 1754 June 26
  Anthony Henday departs York Factory on a venture of exploration onto the Plains.
• 1754 Oct 15
  Anthony Henday encounters Blackfoot on the Prairies south of Battle River.
• 1755 June 23
  Henday returns to York Factory.
• 1759 Sep. 13
  Battle of the Plains of Abraham.
• 1759 Sep. 18
  Ville de Québec surrenders to Wolfe’s forces.
• 1760s
  Small-pox savages the Peoples of North America west of the Rockies.
• 1760 Oct. 25
  George II of England dies.
• 1763 Feb. 7
  Louis XV signs the draft of the Treaty of Paris, surrendering all French claim to North American territories, save for the islands of St. Pierre et Miquelon off the inside coast of Newfoundland.
• 1763 Feb. 10
  Ambassadors and plenipotentiaries representing the kings of Great Britain, of France and of Spain, and from various other principalities and dukedoms in Europe signed the Treaty of Paris officially ending the Seven Years War.
• 1763 Oct. 7
  Royal Proclimation of George III Rex of Great Britain declares that “…[Aboriginals] should not be molested or disturbed in the Possession of such Parts of Our Dominions and Territories as, not having been ceded to or purchased by Us …,” at the same time that it assumes that all lands in British territories belong to the Crown.
• 1769
  Louis XV of France transfers “Louisiana” to Carlos III of Spain.
• 1770 Apr. 30
  David Thompson born in London.
• 1771 July 18
  Samuel Hearne reached Arctic Ocean at the mouth of the Coppermine River.
• 1772 Autumn
  The HBC sends Matthew Cocking to overwinter with the Niitsitapi.
• 1774
  Samuel Hearne established Cumberland House, first Hudson’s Bay Company post inland.
• 1778
  Peter Pond, an independent trader from New England trespassing in Rupert’s Land, discovers the Methye Portage between the Arctic and the Hudson Bay watersheds in what is now Saskatchewan.
• 1781/2 Winter
  Smallpox ravages Plains Indians. Half the Blackfoot—Niitsitapi—die.
• 1781
  Isaac Batts, sent by the HBC to overwinter with the Blackfoot: dies in their company.
• 1783
  After several years of trying, the “peddlers” of Montreal establish the North West Company of Merchants from Canada.
• 1784
  Three Saints Bay on Kodiak Island, now Alaska: Grigorii Shelikhov establishes first permanent Russian outpost in the north-eastern Pacific.
• 1785
  HBC established South Branch House on the South Saskatchewan River near today’s St. Louis, Saskatchewan.
• 1787
  Amalgamation of North West Company and Gregory, McLeod and Company.
• 1787
  Phillip Turnor of the HBC, and apprentice David Thompson, walk the Eastern Slopes of the Rockies from the North Saskatchewan River to the Bow River.
• 1789 July 14
  Alexander Mackenzie reaches Arctic Ocean at the mouth of Mackenzie River.
• 1790
  McTavish, Frobisher and Company gain control of North West Company.
• 1792
  HBC establishes Buckingham House on the North Saskatchewan River near the mouth of the Vermilion.
• 1792 December
  Having travelled down the Eastern Slopes from the North Saskatchewan River, Peter Fidler of the HBC meets Ktunaxa hunters in the Livingstone Gap on the Oldman River in southern Alberta.
• 1793 July 22
  Alexander Mackenzie of the North West Company arrives at salt water in Dean Channel of Bentinck Arm on the Pacific Coast.
• 1794
  William Tomison of the Hudson’s Bay Company establishes Fort Edmonton in Rupert’s Land.
• 1794 Nov. 19
  Jay’s Treaty establishes the Boundary from Lake Superior to the northwest corner of Lake o’ the Woods, then due north or south to the 49º of parallel and west or east to the valley of the Mississippi.
• 1795 Autumn
  HBC builds Fort Edmonton.
• 1795 October
  NWC builds Fort Augustus on the North Saskatchewan River near what is now Edmonton, AB.
• 1796 Feb. 29
  Jay’s Treaty proclaimed. Defines boundary between Loyalist and rebel territories.
• 1797 May 23
  David Thompson resigns from the Hudson’s Bay Coy. and joins the North West Company.
• 1798
  XY Company founded.
• 1798 Autumn
  In the Rocky Mountain foothills on the North Saskatchewan River, Jno. McDonald of Garth establishes Rocky Mountain House for North West Company. Jas. Curtis Bird establishes Hudson’s Bay Company’s Acton House nearby.
• 1799 June 10
  David Thompson weds Charlotte Small.
• 1799 Dec.
  St. Petersburg, Russia: Russian-American Company founded.
• 1800
  Circa Begins a savage 10-year small-pox epidemic among the Native Peoples of North America west of the Rockies. Bands destroyed, social fabric wrent, starvation.
• 1800
  Alexander Mackenzie joins XY Company which now also known as Sir Alexander Mackenzie and Company.
• 1800
  Rupert’s Land: William Tomison and Peter Fidler establish Chesterfield House for the Hudson’s Bay Coy. on the South Saskatchewan River near the mouth of the Red Deer.
• 1800
  The North West Company instructs David Thompson to travel to cross the Rockies and claim the Pacific watershed for the Company. Thompson sends Le Blanc and Legacè to winter with the Ktunaxa. Did not return.
• 1800 Oct. 1
  The Secret Treaty of Ildefonso returns “Louisiana” to the portfolio of France.
• 1801
  Duncan McGillivray of the North West Company is supposed to have crossed the Rockies via the White Man’s Pass and down Kootenay River to Kootenay Lake.
• 1801 Jan. 30
  Pierre-Jean de Smet born at Termonde (Dendermonde), Belgium.
• 1803
  The Canada Jurisdiction Act permits courts in Lower Canada (and from 1821, Upper Canada) to try cases originating in the fur districts.
• 1803
  The North West Company moves its field headquarters from Grand Portage to Fort William.
• 1803 Apr. 30
  Louisiana Purchase. U.S.A. pays France $15,000,000 for 800,000 sq. miles of central North America (4¢/acre).
• 1803 Aug. 11
  Westminster passes Canada Jurisdiction Act in attempt to quell hostilities between the Hudson’s Bay Company and the North West Company.
• 1803 Dec. 20
  Louisiana Purchase officially takes effect.
• 1804
  Sitka Island, now Alaska: The Russian-American Company establishes headquarters at New Archangel.
• 1804 May 14
  In their keelboat, Meriwether Lewis, William Clark and the Corps of Discovery depart their winter camp on the eastern shore of the Mississippi, cross the River and head up the Missouri.
• 1804 July 6
  Simon McTavish of North West Company dies.
• 1804 Nov. 5
  XY Company re-absorbed into the North West Company.
• 1805 Nov. 14
  Lewis and Clark reach the Pacific at the mouth of the Columbia River. Build Ft. Clatsop to o’erwinter.
• 1806 June
  Reuban Fields of Meriwether Lewis’s party killed a Piikani warrior near Maria’s Pass.
• 1807
  John Palliser born.(1887)
• 1807 May 10
  David Thompson and family and assistants depart Rocky Mountain House to cross the Great Divide.
• 1807 June 30
  Thompson expedition reaches the Columbia River after crossing the Rockies westward via the Howse Pass.
• 1807 Aug. 15
  Thompson party completes Kootenae House on Canterbury Point on Lake Windermere in the Rocky Mountain Trench.
• 1807 Oct. 27
  Stockade around Kootenae House completed.
• 1808 Spring
  David Thompson, et al, explore southward down the Rocky Mountain Trench.
• 1808 Apr. 8
  Duncan McGillivray, chief partner of the North West Company, dies in Montréal.
• 1808 May 14
  The Thompson party reaches “Flat Bow Lake” (Kootenay Lake).
• 1808 Late May
  David Thompson and crew work their way up “McDonald’s” (Moyie) River.
• 1808 July 2
  Simon Fraser of the North West Company reaches salt water at the mouth of the Fraser River.
• 1808 July 22
  David Thompson reaches Rainy River House on the Saskatchewan River. Returns to Kootenai House that autumn.
• 1808 November
  David Thompson sends Finan McDonald down the Kootenay River to establish Kootenai Falls House near the Jennings Canyon, now lost beneath Koocanusa Lake.
• 1809 Sep. 10
  David Thompson of the NWC locates the site of Kullyspell House in the eastern shores of Pend d’Oreille Lake.
• 1909 November
  David Tompson establishes “Saleesh” House at Thompson Falls on the Clark Fork River.
• 1810
  Jaco Findlay builds Spokane House on the Spokane River to trade with the Se’lish.
• 1810
  W.P. Hunt leading a Pacific Fur Company expedition overland to the mouth of the Columbia River.
• 1810 July
  The Se’lish involve Nor’Westers Finan McDonald and Baptiste Buché in a skirmish with the Piikani who thereafter regard all Whites as foes.
• 1810 Winter
  The Piikani force David Thompson to winter at Rocky Mountain House rather than returning to New Caledonia.
• 1811 Mar. 6
  Lord Selkirk, Hudson’s Bay Coy. stock holder, pays the Coy. 10 shillings for 74 million acres of land in Red River valley.
• 1811 Mar. 22
  Pacific Fur Company’s ship Tonquin arrives at mouth of Columbia River where company employees immediately build Fort Astoria.
• 1811 June 12
  Hudson’s Bay Company transfers Red River lands to Lord Selkirk.
• 1811 July 15
  David Thompson reached mouth of the Columbia to find the PFC Fort Astoria and learn that the PFC had already claimed the region.
• 1811 July 26
  First shipload of Selkirk settlers departs the United Kingdom.
• 1811 Sep. 6
  Up-river bound, David Thompson and his voyageurs of the North West Company cross today’s “Tin-Cup Rapids” at the confluence of the Kootenay and Columbia Rivers.
• 1811 Sep. 16
  David Stuart of the Pacific Fur Company, having just established Fort Okanagan at the confluence of the Okanagan River with the Columbia, heads up the former with Montigny and makes his way to the Thompson River to trade over the winter.
• 1812
  David Thompson leaves the Pacific watershed to return no more. Kootenai House abandoned.
• 1812 Mar. 22
  Stuart and Montigny return to Fort Okanagan and thence to Fort Astoria.
• 1812 Spring
  Alexander Ross heads up Stuart and Montigny’s trail to trade on the Thompson at “Cumcloups.”
• 1812 June 18
  United States declares war on Great Britain.
• 1812 Aug. 30
  First Selkirk settlers reach Red River under Governor Miles Macdonell.
• 1813
  Alexander Ross, manager of the Pacific Fur Company’s Fort Okanagan, supposedly wanders up the Similkameen, the first Caucasian to do so.
• 1813
  North West Company established Jasper House.
• 1813 Oct. 16
  The Pacific Fur Company employees sell Ft. Astoria to the North West Company.
• 1813 Nov. 30
  Captain Black in H.M.S. Racoon seizes Fort Astoria, despite the events of the 16th.
• 1813 Dec. 12
  Captain Black renames Fort Astoria as Fort George.
• 1814 May
  Alexander Henry, factor of North West Company’s Rocky Mountain House, drowns near Fort George (Astoria).
• 1814 Dec. 24
  Treaty of Ghent concluded. Ends War of 1812. Provides for the return of territorial possessions seized during hostility and iterates Jay’s Treaty demarkation of the Boundary between the United States and British North America as far west as the northwest corner of Lake of the Woods.
• 1815
  The North West Company mauls Red River Colony: Macdonell surrenders.
• 1815 Jan. 11
  John Alexander Macdonald born in Glasgow, Scotland.
• 1815 Oct. 2
  Congregation of Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate (OMI) founded by Charles-Joseph-Eugene de Mazenod at Aix-en-Provence, France
• 1816 June 19
  Massacre of Seven Oaks. Twenty-one settlers killed by a North West Company band led by Cuthbert Grant.
• 1816 Aug. 12
  Lord Selkirk and mercenaries seize Fort William.
• 1817
  Richard Rush, Acting Secretary of State of the United States, and Charles Bagot, British minister in Washington, exchange signed notes agreeing to extend the Boundary between American British territories on North America from the northwest corner of the Lake of the Woods directly north or south to the 49th parallel and west to the Great Divide. “Oregon,” west of the Rockies and lying between 42º and 54º40’N, to be “joint occupancy.” Fort George/Astoria to be surrendered to American interests upon demand.
• 1817
  David Thompson completes his map of the West.
• 1817 Sep. 6
  Alexander Tilloch Galt born in London, England.
• 1818
  J.J Astor and Son organized to take over operation of the American Fur Company.
• 1818 Apr. 28
  U.S. senate ratifies the Rush-Bagot Convention of 1817, making it a lawful treaty of the United States.
• 1818 Oct. 2
  Great Britain ratifies the Convention of 1817.
• 1818 Oct. 6
  Fort George/Astoria nominally returned to American interests.
• 1818 Oct. 16
  Former American possessions in the Pacific North-west restored to U.S. by provisions in the Treaty of Ghent.
• 1819
  Financial panic of 1819. Five year long recession begins in US.
• 1819
  Probably whooping cough ravages the Native populations of the Plains.
• 1819
  François Morigeau, ex-employee of David Thompson, settles at what is now Canal Flats, B.C.
• 1820 Jan. 29
  George III of England dies.
• 1821
  Missouri Fur Company re-organized and western posts re-established.
• 1821 Mar. 26
  The “Coalition,” the “Deed Poll,” of Hudson’s Bay Coy. & North West Company. Negotiated by Edwd. “Bear” Ellice of the Hudson’s Bay Company and Simon McGillivray of the North West Company.
• 1821 July 2
  Westminster grants Hudson’s Bay Coy. a 21 year monopoly over fur trade in British North America.
• 1821 Sep.4
  Ukase signed by Alexander I of All the Russias declares Russian zone of exclusivity on the west coast of North America from Lat. 51ºN to the Bering Sea.
• 1822
  Hudson’s Bay Company builds Lower Fort Garry near what is now Winnipeg, Manitoba.
• 1822
  HBC sends Donald McKenzie to re-establish Chesterfield House at the mouth of the Red Deer River in what is now Alberta. (First post built there by Peter Fidler in 1800)
• 1822
  HBC sends John Edward Harriott et al to explore the Bow River area in what is now Alberta.
• 1823
  Missouri Fur Company establishes a post at the mouth of Maria’s River in what is now Montana and draws Niitsitapi trade away from the HBC’s Ft. Edmonton.
• 1824
  Hudson’s Bay Company establishes Fort Colvile on the Columbia River near Kettle Falls. named for Andrew Wedderburn Colvile who, with his brothers-in-law John Halkirk and Thomas Douglas (5th Earl of Selkirk, of Red River note), had outbit the principals of the North West Company for the majority of shares i the HBC in the 18-aughts.
• 1824
  Hudson’s Bay Company sends Tom McKay to re-establish the old pathway up the Okanagan River from the Columbia and on to Fort Kamloops. This becomes the “Brigade Trail.”
• 1824 Aug. 15
  A Sunday. Geo. Simpson departs York Factory on Hudson Bay for a year-long tour to the Columbia Department.
• 1824 Autumn
  Near Fort Edmonton, Rupert’s Land: Ne:hiyawak slaughter a Niitsi-tapi band of 400.
• 1825
  Convention of 1825 between His Britannic Majesty and Russia establishes 54º40’N as the boundary between their respective spheres of influence. Scottish botanist David Douglas supposed by some to have visited Kootenay Lake. Officially denied.
• 1825 Mar. 19
  Saturday. Governor George Simpson establishes Fort Vancouver as headquarters of the Columbia Department.
• 1826
  William Williams retires as governor of the Hudson’s Bay Company’s Southern Department and George Simpson, governor of the Northern Territory, takes over.
• 1826
  Fort Garry washed away.
• 1826
  Near Fort Carlton, Rupert’s Land: Niitsi-tapi kill nine Ne:hiyawak.
• 1826
  A company of Hudson’s Bay Coy. voyageurs perhaps saw Kootenay Lake.
• 1827 Jan. 7
  Sanford Fleming born in Kirkaldy, Scotland.
• 1827
  American Fur Co. sends Kenneth McKenzie ito Blackfoot territory to establish trade.
• 1827 Aug. 8
  Conclusion of Conference of 1827: confirms the “joint occupancy” of Oregon territory.
• 1828
  George Simpson begins a year-long excursion to the New Caledonia/Oregon region of Hudson’s Bay Company’s territory.
• 1828
  Kenneth McKenzie established Fort Union up on the Missouri River.
• 1830
  George Simpson has Lower Fort Garry constructed twenty miles down the Red from the mouth of the Assiniboine.
• 1830 Jan. 6
  James Baker born.
• 1830 June 26
  George IV of England dies.
• 1831
  Kenneth McKenzie of the American Fur Co. makes a treaty with the Blackfoot on the Missouri.
• 1831 Apr. 30
  Father Léon Fouquet, OMI, born in Agentré, Mayenne, France.
• 1832
  Hudson’s Bay Company establishes Old Bow Fort near what is now Morley, Alberta.
• 1832
  D.D. Mitchell of the American Fur Company establishes Ft. McKenzie at the head of keelboat navigation on the Missouri.
• 1832
  Lower Fort Garry (the Stone Fort) completed by Hudson’s Bay Coy.
• 1832 July 9
  HBC’s Northern Council resolves to establish a post on the Bow River in Piikani country.
• 1832 Autumn
  Rupert’s Land: John Rowand establishes “Piegan Post” (“Old Bow Fort”) on the Bow near present-day Cochrane, Alberta.
• 1832 Oct. 1
  Daniel Chase Corbin born.
• 1833
  Archibald McDonald posted to Fort Colvile as factor (to 1844).
• 1833
  HBC agrees to permit American Fur Co. employees to trade with the Niitsi-tapi in southwest Rupert’s Land.
• 1833 Nov. 12
  Western North America: The shooting stars of the Leonid Meteor Shower amaze witnesses.
• 1834
  Rocky Mountain Fur Company out of business. Hudson’s Bay Company abandons Old Bow Fort.
• 1834
  Lord Selkirk’s heirs return the Selkirk Settlement to HBC control.
• 1834
  London: John Galt organizes British American Land Company.
• 1834 Apr. 19
  County of Kircudbright, Scotland: Gilbert Malcolm Sproat born.
• 1834 June 1
  J.J. Astor and Son (William B. Astor) sell the Western Department of their American Fur Company to Pratt, Chouteau & Co. (Pierre Chouteau, Jr.)
• 1834 June 30
  The U.S. Congress passes the “an act to regulate trade and intercourse with the Indian tribes” (Indian Intercourse Act of 1832), prohibiting the delivery of liquor to Natives west of the Mississippi.
• 1834 Nov. 30
  Full solar eclipse over what is now south-western Alberta.
• 1835
  Upper Fort Garry rebuilt on higher ground at Assiniboine River’s mouth.
• 1835
  Governor Geo. Simpson divides the HBC’s North american holdings into four judicial districts and appoints a magistrate for each.
• 1835 March
  A.T. Galt returns to Canada. Sherbrooke.
• 1835 May 2
  Beaver launched onto the River Thames near London.
• 1835 Nov. 5
  Edgar Dewdney born in Bideford, Devonshire, England.
• 1836 May 4
  Selkirk family sells its Red River lands to Hudson’s Bay Company for £84,000 in the Company’s stock.
• 1836 July 21
  Champlain and St. Lawrence Railroad runs first train in Canada.