Simon Fraser

When the young Simon Fraser set out on his voyage down what he thought was the Columbia River, his only aim was to find a quicker trade route for the North West Company. Though he deemed the trek a failure because it was of no immediate commercial benefit (He called it The River of Disappointment), he became the symbol of what was to become a new age.

His voyage was short, only 71 days, but it changed the face and culture of British Columbia forever. Born in Vermont on 20 May 1776 to Loyalist Scottish-Catholic parents, he came to Canada in 1784 after the death his father. Through family connections, he was able to take up an apprenticeship at age 16 with the North West Company and by 1801, at the young age of 25, he was made a partner. He was eventually sent west and set up trading posts in what he called New Caledonia, which was later northern British Columbia. Using information and guidance from First Nations people and his Métis guides and interpreters, Fraser made his way down the turbulent river that was later to bear his name.

He left New Caledonia in 1809 and continued to work in the fur trade until 1817. At aged 44, on 7 June 1821, he married Catherine Macdonnell, aged 29, in the Roman Catholic Church at St. Andrews. Simon Fraser lived the rest of his life in Cornwall Township, farming the family properties.

He and Catherine had five sons and four daughters (one died in infancy.) Fraser died 18 August 1862, and the family scattered soon after, their mortgage having been foreclosed a few years later. The loan had been taken out to finance unsuccessful son John’s enterprises in the Cariboo gold fields. Fraser’s grave, which he shares with his wife is modest, and can be visited at St. Andrew’s in Cornwall Township.