Fraser, Simon from TCE Standard
Fraser, Simon, explorer, fur trader (b at Mapletown, Hoosick
Township, New York, 20th May 1776: d at St Andrews West, Ontario 18 Aug 1862).
He was the youngest of 10 children of Simon Fraser of Culbokie and Guisachan (a
cadet branch of the noble Highland Frasers of Lovat) and Isabel Grant of
Daldreggan. In September 1773 his family joined the migration of Scottish
Highlanders to America, settling in the rural hamlet of Mapletown. Fraser's
father joined the Loyalist forces, was captured at the Battle of Bennington and
died a prisoner in Albany Jail. Repeatedly harassed by rebels, even after peace
was declared, the widow fled to Canada with her young family in 1784,
eventually settling near Cornwall.
From 1790 Simon lived in MontrŽal with his
uncle, Judge John Fraser, who supervised his nephew's education, then, in 1792,
apprenticed him to the fur-trading NORTH WEST CO.
In 1793 Fraser was sent to Canada's far northwest to learn his trade at the
isolated Athabascan posts. In 1801 Fraser was elected one of the company's
youngest partners. In 1805 he was selected to expand the company's operations
beyond the Rockies. He founded the first European settlements in the wilderness
domain that he named NEW CALEDONIA
(central BC); establishing Fort McLeod in 1805, Fort St James and Fort Fraser
in 1806 and Fort George (present PRINCE GEORGE)
in 1807.
Fraser is best known for his daring
exploration of the FRASER RIVER
(then believed to be the Columbia). On 28 May 1808, hoping to discover a new
transportation route to the Pacific, Fraser left Fort George with 2 clerks, 16
voyageurs and 2 native guides. This gruelling 520 mile expedition ranks as one
of Canada's greatest explorations. Entering territory unknown to Europeans he
struggled through the perilous terrain of the Fraser River canyon. With native
assistance and perseverance they survived the turbulent waters and hair-raising
cliff-side portages.
At the river's mouth Fraser took bearings
and realized that it could not be the Columbia. Threatened by local inhabitants
and greatly disappointed, he retreated. David THOMPSON,
who explored the real Columbia, named the river the Fraser; Simon had already
named the THOMPSON RIVER
in David's honour.
From 1810-1814 Fraser was in charge of the
MacKenzie River Department. Weary of FUR-TRADE
life, and the increasingly violent competition with the HUDSON'S BAY CO,
Fraser determined to retire in 1815, but he was persuaded to return to
Athabasca for one last winter. He was amongst the partners arrested by Lord SELKIRK
at FORT WILLIAM
and charged with complicity in the 1816 SEVEN OAKS
INCIDENT. The case was tried in 1818 - all were acquitted.
Fraser immediately retired and settled at St
Andrews West, where he farmed and operated mills. The rest of his life was
uneventful except for participating in the 1837 REBELLION,
during which he sustained a crippling knee injury. He eventually received a
meagre government pension but, thereafter, lived in straightened circumstances.