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28-564: It was named the Turn-Again River by Samuel Black of the Hudson's Bay Company , who in 1824 journeyed to the river before turning back. It was also known as Black River and Little Muddy River before its current name was adopted on 1 June 1937. Its name in the Kaska language is Gacho. The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) operated a trading post (also known as Lower Post) on the river from 1888 to 1892, when

56-584: A river in British Columbia , Canada is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Samuel Black Samuel Black (May 3, 1780 – February 8, 1841) was a Scottish fur trader and explorer , a clerk in the New North Nest Company (XYC) and Wintering Partner in the North West Company (NWC), and later clerk, chief trader, and chief factor in the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) for

84-678: Is thought that Finlay may have decided to probe the northern branch of the Peace in order to determine if it afforded a better route to the Pacific than the one taken by Mackenzie. Nonetheless, it would appear from the information Black had that Finlay had only made it as far as the Ingenika River , about 130 km north of the Finlay River's confluence with the Parsnip (where the Peace begins). The journey up

112-591: The American Revolution ; Isaac relocated to England at this time, then later returned to British-run Quebec. One of Peter's brothers, Charles Richard Ogden , was a lawyer, politician, and public servant from Canada East . Peter Skene Ogden married Julia Rivet/Reava, a Metis/ Nez Perce . After a brief time with the American Fur Company , Ogden joined the North West Company in 1809. His first post

140-563: The Athabasca Department (mostly in present-day Alberta ) in 1805, Black served as a clerk there for fifteen years. For much of this time, he took an active role in the sometimes violent competition between the NWC and the HBC. In 1816, Black was made a NWC Wintering Partner. By 1820, Black's violent activities against Hudson's Bay Company employees had so imperiled his safety that he withdrew across

168-674: The Columbia District . In 1824, he explored the Finlay River and its tributaries in present-day north-central British Columbia , Canada , including the Muskwa , Omineca and Stikine for the HBC. His journals were published by the Hudson's Bay Record Society in 1955. Black was born in Tyrie, Aberdeenshire , Scotland, the oldest and only son to John Black, from the parish on Tyrie, and Mary Leith, from

196-871: The Mackenzie River , which empties into the Arctic Ocean . A notable tributary is the Cassiar River , which flows north to joins the Turnagain southeast of Cry Lake and which was the focus of the Cassiar Gold Rush of the 1870s. Other major tributaries are the Major Hart River and the Dall River . Part of the river flows through the Muskwa-Kechika Management Area . This article related to

224-517: The Rockies to the North West Company fort at McLeod Lake in New Caledonia , as an arrest had been sworn out for him. At the merger of the NWC and HBC in 1821, Black violent opposition against the HBC caused him to be one of the few NWC men, along with Peter Skene Ogden , not included in the merger. But in 1823, Black was appointed as a clerk and then Chief Trader to the post at Fort St. John . In

252-668: The Russian fur trade from the west. The river had been partially explored by John Finlay , a colleague of Alexander Mackenzie , in 1797. In 1793, Mackenzie had ascended the Peace River to the point where it is formed by the Finlay flowing from the north, and the Parsnip River from the south. Mackenzie had taken the Parsnip, and from there completed a complicated route to the Pacific Ocean. It

280-676: The Stikine River and so reaching the boundary between the Arctic and Pacific drainages. Journeying north-eastward, Black crossed another divide — this time between the Stikine and Liard Rivers — and rafted some way down the Kechika by way of its tributary, the Turnagain River , before returning again down the Finlay. Black's vivid journal account of the expedition conveys the extreme hardships faced by

308-573: The "fur-trade wars". Ogden was admitted to the reconfigured HBC with the rank of Chief Trader in 1823 and put in charge of Spokane House . In November 1824, he was put in charge of the Snake River Country of the HBC's Columbia Department Expedition. Between 1824 and 1830, Ogden led a series of expeditions to explore and trap in the Snake River Country. One of the company's objectives was to bring as many furs from this area as possible to

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336-633: The Finlay River's 450 km length and up its tributaries, the Toodoggone River and the Firesteel River , took Black and his men to what is considered the ultimate source of the Mackenzie River at Thutade Lake (at the head of the Firesteel). Proceeding sometimes on foot, sometimes by raft, Black and a smaller crew explored the region of the Spatsizi Plateau , there finding one of the sources of

364-577: The HBC so as to create a "fur desert", which was intended to discourage inroads by American trappers and traders. The exploration trips included: In 1830, Ogden was sent north to establish a new HBC post named Fort Simpson near the mouth of the Nass River in British Columbia. He also managed an outpost on the south coast of Alaska . In 1834, he was promoted to Chief Factor , HBC's highest field rank, spending 9 years at his new post at Fort St. James in

392-667: The HBC sold off all its interests in the Cassiar District . It reacquired the post in summer 1897, but shut it down again two years later due to poor returns and the re-establishment of Fort Nelson . The Turnagain River starts at Turnagain Lake, and flows generally east and north before joining the Kechika River . The Kechika River is a tributary of the Liard River , which is in turn tributary to

420-651: The New Caledonia district of British Columbia, together from 1835 until 1844. In 1844, he took a one year leave of absence, spent predominantly in England. He returned to Lower Canada in 1845, whereupon after a accompanying clandestine survey trip from Lachine to the Columbia district, he arrived in Fort Vancouver and followed his orders to purchase Cape Disappointment for the Hudson's Bay Company. He administered Fort Vancouver in

448-496: The North West Company viewed this as a necessary part of living in the Northwest, the HBC viewed Ogden as a dangerous man whose actions were deplorable, especially considering his background as the son of a judge. Ogden was charged with murder, and the North West Company moved him further west to attempt to avoid any further confrontations with the HBC. He served at different posts in modern-day Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia for

476-434: The crew, and what Black believed was the general privation of the country — both as a source of food and of furs. Two of his men deserted in the course of the expedition, giving Deserters Canyon its name. The river proved to be a rough and difficult to traverse, and Black's assessment was that this fact — coupled with what he perceived to be the general absence of marketable furs or a healthy First Nations population — made

504-622: The late 1840s. There Ogden fought successfully against American fur competition and successfully negotiated with local native tribes, including the Cayuse . In 1847, Ogden averted an Indian war and successfully negotiated for the lives of 49 settlers taken as slaves by the Cayuse and Umatilla Indians after the Whitman massacre . Ogden retired to Oregon City, Oregon , with one of his several Native American wives. His contact with native tribes led him to write

532-410: The next several years. As a way of ending the ongoing strife between the two companies, the HBC and the North West Company merged in 1821. Ogden's violent history placed the now larger HBC in a quandary. Some in the company management severely disliked and distrusted Ogden, but newly appointed governor George Simpson pushed for his reinstatement, arguing that he had done no more than many others during

560-513: The operations of the HBC's Columbia Department , serving as manager of Fort Simpson and similar posts. Ogden was a son of Chief Justice of the Admiralty Court (1788-1808) Isaac Ogden of Quebec and his wife Sarah Hanson. The family was descended from a 17th-century British emigrant to the American colonies (Long Island and New Jersey). Both Isaac and his father David were Loyalists during

588-546: The parish of Bodichell. Black also had two sisters, Ann and Mary. His baptism was witnessed by George Leith and Janet Black. It is noted in the baptism record that Black was "illegitimate," though, on June 24, 1781, John Black and Mary Leith are noted in the parish marriage records in Pitsligo as "having been contracted and claimed were married" prior to the birth of Samuel. Black's father died four years after Black's birth. Black came to Lower Canada (present day Quebec) in 1802 in

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616-698: The service of the XY Company as a clerk, perhaps encouraged by his maternal uncle and fur trader, George Leith, and probably joined the firm of Leith, Jamieson and Company, part of the XYC. He already had relatives living in Canada at the time of his arrival. At the joining of the XYC and NWC in 1804, Black "passed with the Company's organisation," and went to work for the North West Company , headquartered in Montreal . Assigned to work in

644-501: The summer of 1824, at the behest of Sir George Simpson , governor of the Hudson's Bay Company, Black was assigned to set out with a crew of ten from Rocky Mountain Portage (now Hudson's Hope ) "to the Sources of Finlay's Branch [the Finlay River ] and Northwest Ward." The purpose of the expedition was to assess the region's suitability for extension of the fur trade, and to check the advance of

672-603: The territory impracticable for the extension of the fur trade or as a northern route to the Pacific. Nonetheless, Black and his crew had completed an extraordinarily extensive survey of what is now north-central British Columbia. They had not only journeyed to the source of the Mackenzie River, but had travelled over the Arctic-Pacific divide, and to the sources of two major watersheds — the Stikine and Liard Rivers. After an interval at Fort Dunvegan and York Factory , Black

700-465: Was a British-Canadian fur trader and an early explorer of what is now British Columbia and the Western United States . During his many expeditions, he explored parts of Oregon , Washington , Nevada , California , Utah , Idaho , and Wyoming . Despite early confrontations with the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) while working for the North West Company , he later became a senior official in

728-416: Was appointed Chief Factor of Fort Nez Percés (near present-day Wallula, Washington ) in 1825. This posting allowed Black to exercise his renowned vigour in opposing competition, in this instance from American traders. His difficulties in maintaining a good relationship with the local Nez Perce clients led to Black's transfer to the company's Thompson's River Post (now Kamloops ) in 1830. In 1837, Black

756-459: Was appointed as Chief Factor in charge of the inland posts of the Columbia . Here Black was murdered on February 8, 1841, shot by a nephew of Chief Tranquille of the local group of Secwepemc (Shuswap) following a minor quarrel. He is interred near Kamloops. Peter Skene Ogden Peter Skene Ogden (alternately Skeene , Skein , or Skeen ; baptised 12 February 1790 – 27 September 1854 )

784-473: Was at Île-à-la-Crosse , Saskatchewan , in 1810, and by 1814 he was in charge of a post at Green Lake, Saskatchewan , 100 miles (160 km) south. Ogden had frequent run-ins with the rival HBC employees and engaged in physical violence on several occasions. In 1816, HBC clerks reported that Ogden killed an Indian who had traded with the Hudson's Bay Company. The Indian was "butchered in a most cruel manner", according to HBC officer James Bird. Although many in

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