Fraser, Simon

FRASER, Simon, fur trader (b 20 May 1776, Mapletown, VT; d 18 Aug 1862, St Andrews West, ON). He came to Canada with his widowed mother as part of the Loyalist migration in 1784. The family settled near Cornwall, ON, and in 1792, through a relative, he joined the NORTH WEST CO (NWC) in Montreal as an apprentice clerk. After becoming a partner in 1801, he was assigned the task of opening up the trade beyond the ROCKY MTS. In 1805 he led an expedition up the PEACE R through the mountains and built Fort McLeod on McLEOD LK, the first permanent European settlement west of the Rocky Mts in what is now BC. The next year he reached Stuart Lk, the territory of the DAKELH (Carrier) people, where he established FORT ST JAMES and, a bit to the south, FORT FRASER. The NWC was seeking a navigable water route to the Pacific; in 1807 Fraser built Fort George at the present site of PRINCE GEORGE as a base for exploring the FRASER R, which at that point he believed was the COLUMBIA R. On 22 May 1808 he began his famous descent of the river, embarking from Fort St James in 4 canoes with 21 NWC employees and 2 aboriginal guides. His account of the trip through the turbulent waters of the Fraser Canyon and out to the coast, edited by W. Kaye LAMB (1960), is a classic of BC LITERATURE. Fraser's party reached the village of MUSQUEAM at the mouth of the river early in July, and the crew met a hostile reception. Already discouraged that the river was obviously not the Columbia, and of no use to the NWC as a transportation route, Fraser turned back and arrived at Fort George on Aug 6. His descent of the river marked the end of his explorations in the territory he called NEW CALEDONIA. Subsequently he served at posts in the Mackenzie R and Athabasca districts before retiring from the FUR TRADE in 1818. He married and lived the rest of his life quietly as a farmer and miller near Cornwall.