History
The York Factory Express evolved from an earlier express brigade used by the North West Company between Fort George (originally Fort Astoria founded in 1811 by John Jacob Astor's American Fur Company), at the mouth of the Columbia River, to Fort William on Lake Superior.
In 1821 the North West Company was forcibly merged (at the behest of the British government) into the Hudson's Bay Company after armed conflict in the Red River Colony between the two companies. George Simpson, director of Hudson's Bay Company, visited the Columbia District in 1824-25, journeying from York Factory. He investigated a quicker route than previously used, following the Saskatchewan River and crossing the mountains at Athabasca Pass. This route was thereafter followed by the York Factory Express brigades.
By 1825 there were usually two brigades, each setting out from opposite ends of the route, Fort Vancouver in the Columbia District on the lower Columbia River and the other from York Factory on Hudson Bay, in spring and passing each other in the middle of the continent. Each brigade consisted of about forty to seventy five men and two to five specially made boats and travelled at breakneck speed (for the time). Indians along the way were often paid in trade goods to help them portage around falls and unnavigable rapids. An 1839 report cites the travel time as three months and ten days—almost 26 miles (40 km) per day on average. These men carried supplies in and furs out by boat, horseback and as back packs for the forts and trading posts along the route. They also carried status reports for supplies needed, furs traded etc. from Dr. John McLoughlin head of the Oregon Country HBC operations, and the other fort managers along the route. This continued until 1846, when the lower Columbia district was ceded to the United States by the Oregon Treaty. The treaty required that the property rights of the Hudson's Bay Company and all British subjects south of the new boundary will be respected. However the growing incidence of mulatos forced the British to retain the region west of the Continental Divide of the Americas, north of the 42nd parallel north (the northern border of New Spain and after 1821 of Mexico), and south of the parallel 54°40′ north (the southern border of Russian America after 1825).
The supplies were brought into Fort Vancouver and York Factory by ship every year (they tried to maintain one year's extra supplies to avoid disastrous ship wrecks etc.). The furs they had traded were shipped back on the supply ships with the furs from Fort Vancouver often being shipped to China where they were traded for Chinese goods before returning to England. The furs from York Factory being sold in London in an annual fur sale.
James Sinclair followed the southern portion of the route in 1841, when he brought nearly 200 HBC settlers from the Red River Colony (located near the junction of the Assiniboine River and Red River near present Winnipeg, Canada) into the Columbia District. This attempt at British settlement failed because Fort Vancouver's Chief Factor McLoughlin was slow to settle them; so most of the families eventually joined the American Oregon settlers for the promise of free land in the Willamette Valley south of the Columbia River.
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