The Hudsons' Bay Company 1849 Brigade Trail
by Jacqueline Bessette
Beads of sweat trickled down my neck as I drank in the crisp Spring air. The distant sounds of rushing rapids mixed with the rhythmic chug-a-lug of cargo trains passing through the canyon far below. As I waited for my racing heart to get a hold of itself, I noticed the sun had penetrated through the coniferous canopy. Sections of mossy, rolling landscape climbed the steep incline from the trailhead near Alexandria Lodge. It was a no-nonsense hike that would take me all the way to Fort Kamloops if I so wished. It’s no wonder so many horses perished making the journey.
A sudden yell from up ahead broke into my thoughts: “I see something! We’re nearly there!” Carefully avoiding the neat heaps of deer scat, I ascended the final few switchbacks to my ultimate goal: the A.C. Anderson Lookout Point (pictured).
A sudden yell from up ahead broke into my thoughts: “I see something! We’re nearly there!” Carefully avoiding the neat heaps of deer scat, I ascended the final few switchbacks to my ultimate goal: the A.C. Anderson Lookout Point (pictured).
Trail History and Significance
(used with permission, Hope Mountain Centre for Outdoor Learning Website)
This was it! The Hudson’s Bay Company’s 1849 Brigade Trail had been calling to me through weeks of dubious weather and trail conditions. I was traveling the same treacherous path as British Columbia’s famous horse brigades had in the last phase of the Fur Trade era (pictured). Four- to five-hundred horses strong, these brigades were intended to bring furs and supplies to and from the interior prior to the Gold Rush and subsequent building of the Caribou Wagon Road in 1862. Known as the first “highway” between the coast and the interior, this particular route was HBC employee Alexander Caulfield Anderson’s fourth attempt in a series of six Brigade trails, and would not have been discovered without the aid and cooperation of local First Nations.
Since Time Immemorial the Nlaka’pamux (Thompson) First Nation traveled the Trail for hunting, trapping, and plant gathering. Additionally, it was used as an east-west trade route for the Stó:lo and Upper Similkameen Nations, bypassing the sheer canyon walls at Hells Gate. In 1846 a Similkameen elder known only as Blackeyes and his son-in-law showed the Trail to A.C. Anderson (pictured), and voila! The fur-trader, explorer, and cartographer had a fourth way of linking Fort Langley to New Caledonia, Fort Kamloops, and Fort Colville. You can find detailed information on this route and its associated brigade journeys by visiting the links provided at the bottom of this page.
Since Time Immemorial the Nlaka’pamux (Thompson) First Nation traveled the Trail for hunting, trapping, and plant gathering. Additionally, it was used as an east-west trade route for the Stó:lo and Upper Similkameen Nations, bypassing the sheer canyon walls at Hells Gate. In 1846 a Similkameen elder known only as Blackeyes and his son-in-law showed the Trail to A.C. Anderson (pictured), and voila! The fur-trader, explorer, and cartographer had a fourth way of linking Fort Langley to New Caledonia, Fort Kamloops, and Fort Colville. You can find detailed information on this route and its associated brigade journeys by visiting the links provided at the bottom of this page.
Current Commemoration
While historians, First-Nations, and non-aboriginals have been working on the HBC Brigade Trail’s restoration since the 1960s, several commemorative events have occurred since the Provincial government’s introduction of The Heritage Trails initiative. In 2009 the government’s proactive heritage tourism strategy granted a $300,000 budget for the Trail section at Anderson River to the Coldwater River. This 12.7 km portion of the Brigade Trail is a loop on the eastern side of Alexandra Bridge Provincial Park, known as the Tikwalus Heritage Trail.
On April 20, 2012 Senator Vivienne Poy and Senator Dr. Lillian Quan Dyck, prominent members of the Chinese-Canadian community, attended the Grand Opening of the Tikwalus Trail in the traditional territory of the Spuzzum First Nation. The event extended to the joint project of Recreation Sites and Trails BC, New Pathways to Gold Society, Spuzzum First Nation, Nlaka’pamux Nation Tibal Council and Hope Mountain Centre for Outdoor Learning to create a world-class heritage tourism attraction, the trailhead of which I had used to gain access.
On April 20, 2012 Senator Vivienne Poy and Senator Dr. Lillian Quan Dyck, prominent members of the Chinese-Canadian community, attended the Grand Opening of the Tikwalus Trail in the traditional territory of the Spuzzum First Nation. The event extended to the joint project of Recreation Sites and Trails BC, New Pathways to Gold Society, Spuzzum First Nation, Nlaka’pamux Nation Tibal Council and Hope Mountain Centre for Outdoor Learning to create a world-class heritage tourism attraction, the trailhead of which I had used to gain access.
The discomfort of the blisters forming on my heels, the long drive from the Central Fraser Valley to just past the “town” of Spuzzum, and the morning’s disappointment that last summer’s hiking pants were a wee too tight all disappeared at the exhilaration of finding my quarry. We had already passed a nondescript metal plaque describing the Trail’s significance, as well as a triangular trail marking the 1 km we had traveled from the trailhead (pictured). While the view it offered gave a bit of a thrill at the altitude we had already achieved, the A.C. Anderson View Point was slightly anti-climactic in comparison to the Trail’s rich history. An interpretive signboard approximately three-by-four feet offered summary information and historic photos (pictured). Similar signboards have been posted along the entirety of the Trail as well as at campsites installed along the route.
Locally, the Hope Mountain Centre for Outdoor Learning offers a guided and narrated three-day hiking program, while the New Pathways to Gold Society has proposed plans for developing performance troupes to bring the history of this period to schools. Ultimately the HBC Brigade Trail of 1849 played a key part in BC’s history and prehistory. Culturally, it cleared a pathway for the transfer of ideas, people and resources for First Nations. Economically, the exchange of furs from the interior and supplies from the coast facilitated BC’s growth as a Colony. Socially, the faith early explorers placed in their guides, the cooperation of aboriginal peoples, and the intensive labour efforts of the brigade workers (who included First Nations, French Canadians, Hawai’ians, and American Indians) were an early demonstration of Canada’s policy of multi-culturalism.
Locally, the Hope Mountain Centre for Outdoor Learning offers a guided and narrated three-day hiking program, while the New Pathways to Gold Society has proposed plans for developing performance troupes to bring the history of this period to schools. Ultimately the HBC Brigade Trail of 1849 played a key part in BC’s history and prehistory. Culturally, it cleared a pathway for the transfer of ideas, people and resources for First Nations. Economically, the exchange of furs from the interior and supplies from the coast facilitated BC’s growth as a Colony. Socially, the faith early explorers placed in their guides, the cooperation of aboriginal peoples, and the intensive labour efforts of the brigade workers (who included First Nations, French Canadians, Hawai’ians, and American Indians) were an early demonstration of Canada’s policy of multi-culturalism.
Key Links:
Fur Trade Family History: The HBCo. Brigade Trails in BC
Fur Trade Family History: Hiking the HBC Brigade Trail
People of Yale: AC Anderson
Boomtown Tales and Historic People
New Pathways to Gold Society
Nlaka’pamux Nation Tribal Council
Recreation Sites and Trails BC
Hope Mountain Centre for Outdoor Learning
Fur Trade Family History: Hiking the HBC Brigade Trail
People of Yale: AC Anderson
Boomtown Tales and Historic People
New Pathways to Gold Society
Nlaka’pamux Nation Tribal Council
Recreation Sites and Trails BC
Hope Mountain Centre for Outdoor Learning
Suggested Bibliography
Anderson, Nancy Marguerite
2011 The Pathfinder: A. C. Anderson's Journeys in the West. Heritage House Publishing Co. ISBN 1926936825, 9781926936826.
Hou, Charles
2009 The HBC Fur Brigade/First Nations Trail of 1848-49. Moody's Lookout Press. 3378 West 39th Ave., Vancouver, B.C. V6N 3A2. ISBN 0968001653, 9780968001653.
Hudson’s Bay Compay Archives
Karamanski, Theodore J.
1988 Fur Trade and Exploration: Opening the Far Northwest. University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 0806120932, 9780806120935.
Mackie, Richard Somerset
1997 Trading Beyond the Mountains: The British Fur Trade on the Pacific 1793-1843. UBC Press: Vancouver. ISBN 0774806133, 9780774806138.
Maps of Alexander Caulfield Anderson, The
Martin, Jeff
2010 Heritage Context Study of the 1849 Hudson’s Bay Brigade Trail Between Peers Creek Forest Service Road and the Tulameen Plateau, BC. St.:lō Heritage Investigation. Submitted to the Sto:lō Research and Resource Management Centre, Permit 2010-42. Electronic Document.
Thom, Brian
1995 The Sto:lo and the HBC Brigade Trail. Prepared for Chilliwack Forest District, Ministry of Forests. Contract No. 12015-20/CS96DCK-002.
2011 The Pathfinder: A. C. Anderson's Journeys in the West. Heritage House Publishing Co. ISBN 1926936825, 9781926936826.
Hou, Charles
2009 The HBC Fur Brigade/First Nations Trail of 1848-49. Moody's Lookout Press. 3378 West 39th Ave., Vancouver, B.C. V6N 3A2. ISBN 0968001653, 9780968001653.
Hudson’s Bay Compay Archives
Karamanski, Theodore J.
1988 Fur Trade and Exploration: Opening the Far Northwest. University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 0806120932, 9780806120935.
Mackie, Richard Somerset
1997 Trading Beyond the Mountains: The British Fur Trade on the Pacific 1793-1843. UBC Press: Vancouver. ISBN 0774806133, 9780774806138.
Maps of Alexander Caulfield Anderson, The
Martin, Jeff
2010 Heritage Context Study of the 1849 Hudson’s Bay Brigade Trail Between Peers Creek Forest Service Road and the Tulameen Plateau, BC. St.:lō Heritage Investigation. Submitted to the Sto:lō Research and Resource Management Centre, Permit 2010-42. Electronic Document.
Thom, Brian
1995 The Sto:lo and the HBC Brigade Trail. Prepared for Chilliwack Forest District, Ministry of Forests. Contract No. 12015-20/CS96DCK-002.