The Wrangell sentinel., 1928-10-18

| held Tor the settlement or disputes,
 and the Indians were brought in so
 that the governor could address them
 upon the importance of the fur trade. Recent Celebration
 On the 17th the Hudson's Bay Com pany attempted a reproduction of Simpsons entry into Fort St. James, the most important post in the cen | tral interior of what was then known
 as New Caledonia. First came the
 Indian guide, dressed in the com- pany's best and carrying the British
 ensign, with the "H. B. O." in the same field and which enjoyed the
 that the lamb bore to Mary. Follow 1 ing the flag came such of the boat
 men as could perform on the bag pipes, and then Governor Simpson,
 mounted, and lacking little in regal splendor Then came Dr. Hamlyn. l the governors physician, and Mac
 donald, the company's scribe or press agent, and after them the non-musi-
 cal members of the party carrying the baggage and stores.
 Historians do not seem to have
 attached much importance to Gov
 ernor Simpsons visit to Fort St.
 James, as it is not given much mo- tice, but from the Hudson's Bay Con- pany records it would appear that
 William Connolly w.s in charge Of | the post at the time. He was doubt less absent as James Douglas is rep | resented in some accounts as well coming the governor and seeing to it that the proper salute was given.
 The governors stay at Fort St. James | was short, and in few days he was on his way south, making Fort Lang | ley, on the Fraser river, within three
 months of his departure from York
 Factory, and from there proceeding | to Fort Vancouver on the Columbia.
 Interest attaches to James Douglas | in that he later became governor of Vancouver Island and of British Co.,
 lumbia He served his apprentice
 ship with the company at Fort St.
 James, and courted Amelia Connolly,
 daughter of the superintendent of the district, wedding her according to the law of the country and later having the uinon solemniZed at Fort 1 Vancouver according to the rites of the church. Douglas remained at
 Fort St. James for two years follow
 ing the visit of Governor Simpson.
 1 Sir George Simpson died in the harness. The pressure of the gov ernment of Canada for the control
 of what are now it's western prov inces was we'll under way in 1857 and Manitoba and Saskatchewan were withdrawn from the control Of
 the Hudson's Bay Company. The
 death of Simpson followed three years later at his home in Lachine, near Montreal. He had started on his annual western tour but was talk en i'll at Sault St. Marie and was forced to return home where he died. Of Simpsons work it is said:
 "Though he was an autocratic rui-
 CT, Sir George Simpson performed useful service to Canada. His ad-
 ministration of affairs in the west stands out in direct contrast to con
 ditions as they were just before ana
 after his regime. Before he came
 the rival traders were on the verge
 of civil war, which eliminated In
 the massacre of Seven Oaks. During
 the four decades of Simpsons rule
 order was created out of chaos, ene-
 mics united as friends with one ann
 bition, the fur trade put on a firm footing. and Rupert's Land explored.
 Tn his management of the finances of the Hudson's Bay Company, Sir
 George Simpson stood in class by