Tracking down Archie

My quest this month and last has been to research those people Canadian artist Paul Kane met on his trip from the wilds of Canada down to the Willamette Valley around 1842-1847, during the fur trading era.

Kane's journal, Wanderings of an Artist, introduced  a "Mr. Mackenlie'" as a chief trader in Oregon City. Following the winter holidays at Fort Vancouver, the two traveled down the Columbia River to Oregon City, Kane's mission being to see and paint as much of native life as possible.

"Oregon City" painted by Henry James Warre 1845 (Wikipedia)

Kane goes on to write that he spent some three weeks with "Mr. Mackenlie," well entertained by his "stories of Indian life." In one tale, a three-pound caret of tobacco went missing from the store. "Mr. Mackenlie" suspected an Indian had taken it, so had the Chiefs assemble everyone. He told them of the theft and "wished everyone present would place his mouth to the muzzle of the gun and blow into it, assuring them that it would injure no one innocent of the theft," but it would kill the thief (132). "Mr. Mackenlie" began the process, followed by every other person in the room, except one man who said, "he would not tempt the Great Spirit" (133).

That's all the information I had about "Mr. Mackenlie," so I turned to Diane Eaton and Sheila Urbanek's Paul Kane's Great Nor-West to learn that when they left Fort Vancouver, the temperature hovered around 7 below zero. And "Mackenlie" was Archibald McKinlay. Now the fun begins, and I am very grateful for Google searches. Here's what I've learned about Archie, for each little snippet takes me deeper into what life was like back in the 1840s.

Scottish Archibald McKinlay (1805-1891) came to Canada in 1830 with his sister Ellen who had married James MacMillan.  He began work as an apprentice clerk for the Hudson's Bay Company at York Factory in 1832 and also served at Red River in 1834. Archie was tall, had ginger-colored hair, weighed about 200 pounds, and was by several accounts quite chatty with a flair for solving problems diplomatically.  

In 1835, Archie was transferred west of the Rockies, where he met up with Alexander Caulfield Anderson at Jasper House; they became lifelong friends, later serving together on the Indian Reserve Commission together in the 1870's. 

Archie served as a trader at several different Hudson Bay Company posts, the last being Fort Nez Perces (now Walla Walla). He never went home again. After the Oregon Treaty of 1846, he moved to Oregon City. commenting, "It's no surprise we lost Fort Vancouver. Every year, the Americans came out on the trail, as thick as mosquitos."

On June 15, 1840, Archie married Julia Sarah at Fort Vancouver, one of the daughters of Peter Skene Ogden -- who was Chief Factor at Fort Vancouver at the time. 

Archie and Julia had 10 children, though one report suggests they had 5 children. Large families were not unusual during this time of no birth control. The first, a daughter, was born in 1837 at Red River (a footnote suggests she might have been a foster child), but given that Archie was a favorite of Peter Skene Ogden, and traveled widely, more research would be needed. It was not uncommon for marriages to occur years after the couple married 'in the style of the country.' Julia traveled with her husband, so she would have been at Oregon City when Paul Kane stayed there.

Source: Branwen Christine Patenaude Trails to Gold, Volume 2, page 60.

I also discovered that Archibald McKinlay loved books -- of a certain kind. In 1842, he ordered $100 worth of books through Dr. Marcus Whitman, though these books did not arrive at Fort Vancouver until June of 1845. The books traveled from Boston around the Horn with a stop in Hawaii before arriving on the Columbia River. Mostly religious in nature, the crate of 60 books did not include Shakespeare or any popular fiction! (PDF article by J. Orin Oliphant, Washington Historical Quarterly, 1933).

Interested in reading more? See Paul Kane's Wanderings of an Atist Among the Indians of North America; Nancy Marguerite Andeson's The Pathfinder: A. C. Anderson's Journeys in the West; Diane Eaton and Sheila Urbanek's Paul Kane's Great Nor-West; Nichole St-Onge, Carolyn Podruchny, Brenda Macdougall, eds.Contours of a People: Metis Family, Mobility, and History; and Branwen Christine Patenaude Trails to Gold, Volume 2. 

And just one last link: Nancy Marguerite Anderson, consistently writes about the fur trade era on her blog, with much good excerpts from letters and journals. 

Volcanoes and my current work-in-progress

When I first started thinking about what Rivers of Stone might include and that connection between the fur trading era, Hawaii, and the Great Pacific Nor'west, I thought about volcanoes and the clouds of ash that fell on Oregon City during Mount St. Helens' massive eruption in 1980, just before we moved to Oregon.

For on March 27, 1847, Mount St. Helens did erupt, and Canadian painter Paul Kane did paint a fiery plume coming out of her left side at night.

Paul Kane, "Mount St. Helens Erupting at Night," 1847
Source Wikimedia

Perhaps this 'fiery eruption' was partly created by the artist's imagination. Volcanologists report that between 1840 and 1850 before entering a long period of dormancy, Mount St. Helens did erupt in 1844, 1845, and 1846, with smoke plumes being most common, as spotted by British spy Henry Warre.  

Paul Kane wrote in his Wanderings of an Artist: "There was not a cloud visible in the sky at the time I commenced my sketch, and not a breath of air was perceptible: suddenly a stream of white smoke shot up from the crater of the mountain, and hovered a short time over its summit; it then settled down like a cap. This shape it retained for about an hour and a-half, and then gradually disappeared." 

Kane further notes: "About three years before this the mountain was in a violent state of irruption [sic] for three or four days, and threw up burning stones and lava to an immense height, which ran in burning torrents down its snow-clad sides."

But it doesn't sound like Kane directly observed that fiery 'irruption.' I did find a fascinating aside reported by Warre in his journals about an Indian, tribe unknown, who told of trying to jump over a strange river of hot stones when he was hunting near Mount St. Helens. He miscalculated the jump and badly burned his leg, which was later treated by a Dr. Barclay at Fort Vancouver. Warre's story contradicts Kane's report that the natives refused to go near Mount St. Helens.

Dr. Forbes Barclay
Source: Oregon Health & Science University

As research threads unravel, I followed this lead to find that Dr. Forbes Barclay, born in the Shetland Islands in Scotland, was a surgeon and fur trader at Fort Vancouver from 1840 to 1850, just the time my characters would have visited there. 

So, Paul Kane would have known Dr. Barclay. 

Further, Dr. Barclay moved to Oregon City, about the time that John McLoughlin, the Chief Factor at Fort Vancouver, moved there. Both men married Métis women, and Dr. Barclay built his house next door to McLoughlin in 1849. He married Marie Pambrun at Fort Vancouver in 1843.

Richard Matthews, a National Park Service volunteer at the Barclay House, was interviewed for a series of videos about the Oregon Trail. This five-minute video focuses on Dr. Forbes Barclay.

Maybe I won’t have fiery volcanoes or clouds of ash in my story, but now I’m thinking Dr. Barclay will make an appearance in Rivers of Stone. 

Another surprise: I’ve also been on the hunt for a quilt to put in my story and just discovered that a 200-year-old quilt is housed today in the museum that was once John McLoughlin’s home in Oregon City. Aha! More research is needed. 

Yesterday, a friend wanted to know when Rivers of Stone would be available. I'm still editing but hoping for this year. Sign up for my newsletter HERE to find out exactly when.  

Questions? Comments?

O is for One-Pound-One

If I were traveling by canoe or York boat along the Saskatchewan River to Fort Edmonton in the 1840s, I would have been impressed by Rowand's Folly, a three-story house built for Chief Factor John Rowand. 

John Rowand (1787-1854), originally from Montreal, began working in the fur trade when he was 16 as an apprentice clerk. His passions? Hunting bison and riding horses. When he was 23, Rowand had a disastrous fall from a horse, resulting in a broken leg. He was rescued by a young Metis woman, Louise Umfreville. From that point, he walked with a limp, earning the nickname, "One-Pound-One."

Rowand contracted a 'country marriage' with Louise and was gifted a herd of horses as a dowry -- which added to his prestige among the Plains Indians. John and Louise remained together until her death in 1849.  He called Louise " . . . my old friend, the mother of all my children . . ." They had at least five children. 

John Rowand
Dictionary of Canadian Biography

John Rowand was a short, rather large man with an explosive temper, and was considered a strict taskmaster. A visiting priest tried to convince Rowand that one of his workers was sick. Rowand replied, "Any man who is not dead after three days sickness is not sick at all." It's no surprise that he died of a heart attack when he intervened in a fight between boat builders and voyageurs.  

One challenge in writing historical fiction that involves what Ken Follett calls historical personages is this: How do I capture the sense of this man, without knowing him?  

In my current work-in-progress, Rivers of Stone, John Rowand is a minor character as Paul Kane and Cat stop off for a few days at Fort Vancouver on their journey west. 

Here's a snippet as Kane and Cat attend a formal dance at Rowand's Folly, late in 1847:

   One of the voyageurs stumbled against Rowand's daughter, Marguerite, who was dressed in yellow silk trimmed with fur. Rowand shoved the man to the floor, nearly at Cat's feet. "You blackguard! Think you to despoil my precious daughter?"

   The music stopped. All eyes turned to Rowand.

   "There's no harm done, sir," called Kane.

   "Get that man out of here," hissed Rowand. "He needs a whipping."

   With a courtly bow, Kane approached Margaret Rowand and invited her to dance. He offered his hand and led her ceremoniously on the floor, somewhat dwarfed by her imposing size, for she mirrored her father in bulk. Yet no one laughed. Instead, they applauded the couple's graceful sway to the music. Cat sighed. When will I wear such a dress? She snorted. As if I ever did.

   She made her way out onto the open parade ground, leaving the noise of the party behind her. Above, a full moon appeared encircled with white. Cat felt as if she were in a small city, yet she knew outside the fort's palisade, they would face near a thousand miles of wilderness before they reached Fort Vancouver. She rubbed her face with her hands. One day at a time. Bend, don't break.

Rowand's Folly, Residence of Chief Factor at Fort Edmonton
Source (Wikipedia)
Click to see larger image.

This month, inspired by the April A to Z Blogging Challenge, I'm writing about the research for Rivers of Stone as I finish up final edits. Check out what others are writing HERE.  Only 11 letters to go!

M is for Mount St. Helens

When I first began writing Rivers of Stone, I was daydreaming about the connections between Hawaii and the Northwest Territory in the 1840s. We traveled along the Columbia River, discovered petroglyphs overlooking the river, and walked our feet off.


At this early point, I kept asking what did Hawaii and the Northwest Territory have in common? The answer -- volcanoes. Lava. 

USGS Photo of Mount St. Helens' Eruption
Source: Wikipedia

Mount St. Helens erupted on May 18, 1980, at 8:30 in the morning, just a few years before we moved to Oregon.

We visited Mount St. Helens on one of those memorable family vacations. Aunt Yetta hid under the blanket as we drove through the newly opened, one-way gravel roads. 

We stopped at overlooks, in awe at the sweep of the damage, the destruction and loss of lives. 

At the visitor's center, I spotted a small dark painting of something unexpected -- Paul Kane had captured a night eruption of Mount St. Helens when he traveled by canoe along the Columbia in the spring of 1847. 

Paul Kane, "Mount St. Helens Erupting at Night"
March 1847 (source: Wikipedia)

Kane's journals reveal that the volcano was not active when he stopped to sketch the volcano from a distance of about 30 miles, but as he drew the mountain, a great burst of white smoke blew out from the left side. Kane learned the volcano had exploded violently three years previously. Despite offerings of bribes, none of the Indians accompanying Kane would explore the mountain. 

I was fascinated by Paul Kane. Who was he? How did he get to the Northwest? How did people react to that eruption? And so the research began, and the title to my third book in the McDonnell series came along. Rivers of Stone. 

If you write, have natural catastropes influenced your stories?

Check out what others have written for the April A to Z Blogging Challenge HERE.

L is for Lane, Mary and Richard, and that twisting research lane we follow.

When Paul Kane traveled west to Fort Vancouver, the leader of the brigade was an Englishman named Richard Lane. Lane had been entrusted with not only the documents resolving the 1846 border dispute between Canada and the U.S., but also the infamous otter furs, an annual gift to the Russians to ensure trade.

Lane was relatively new to the Hudson's Bay Company, arriving at York Factory in June, 1838, and transferring down to Red River by September where he stayed as an accountant until 1845, some 7 years.  Sir George Simpson sent him next to Fort Vancouver, promising Lane he could return to Red River in 1846. Why?

These are the facts. But I'm having a harder time finding out the story behind these surface facts.

Lane did return to Red River in 1846 to marry Mary (Marie) McDermot, daughter of prominent trader Andrew McDermot and his wife Sara McNab, a Métis with whom he had 17 children.

Annie McDermot
Source: Destination Winnipeg
Click for larger view.

Mary, then 30, and Richard (also 30), then joined Kane's party to travel over the Rocky Mountains. They must have known each other in those years Richard Lane spent in Red River. Kane admired Mary's skill with snowshoes as they traveled over the Rocky Mountains, but, as far as I know, he did not paint her.

I did find some lovely stuff about their wedding for Mary's mother Sara loved to dance. Métis weddings could last several days of feasting and dancing. Paul Kane should have painted this (I'm imagining a Peter Bruegel type scene).

I did find a photograph of Annie McDermot (b. 1830), Mary's sister, who may give a sense of what Mary looked like as a young woman. 

Portrait of a Half-breed Cree Girl
Source: Kane's Wanderings of a Young Artist
Click for larger view.

Another side issue is how Europeans romanticized and yet exploited the Métis and native women they met as seen in this painting by Paul Kane of a young Metis woman he met at Fort Edmonton and later painted. 

Cunnewa-bum (whose name means 'She That Looks at Stars') holds a fan. Her innocent gaze, some critics say, suggests flirtation, but I don't see that, but her name is lost when retitled as "Portrait of a Half-breed Cree Girl" in Paul Kane's Wanderings of a Young Artist.

In my story, Rivers of Stone, would Paul Kane have recognized Catriona as a woman in the grubby boy who traveled with him, given his romantic vision of women?

Richard Lane's story ends sadly with alcoholism and suicide some 30 years after the death of Mary in 1851.

But in the 1840s, and possibly before, the Hudson's Bay Company echelon viewed marriages between Europeans and Métis or native women (in the style of the country) as impediments to future promotions. Some men put aside their country wives. John Hargrave admonished a colleague to wait, as he had done, and not undertake such a marriage. And some men (including Sir George Simpson) said nasty things about the women they loved and left behind in short-term liaisons. When those precious European wives arrived, they often lived in isolation, unwilling to include the native and Metis wives in their company. 

After probably two many hours of reading and research this morning, I found a sumptuous new book on Paul Kane by Arlene Gehmacher, Paul Kane: His Life and Works (available as a free PDF download).

Now, back to work on revising and editing Rivers of Stone. Tomorrow's entry for that April A to Z Blogging Challenge will be "M" for Mount St Helens. Now what would a volcanic eruption have to do with Rivers of Stone?

Check out what others have posted for A to Z HERE.

K is for Kane -- Paul Kane

Just how did I wind up including Canadian artist Paul Kane in my current historical novel, Rivers of Stone? 

In the early days of plotting a novel, ideas swirl around, and it's hard to tell who the heroine is and what the major conflicts will be, I had a sweet, young woman disguising herself as a boy to travel with her husband to the wilds of Canada. When they arrive at York Factory in Upper Manitoba, both are put to work, but Dougal is sent immediately to Fort Vancouver with the fur brigade express, while Catriona (Cat, for now, and still in disguise), is put to work at the trading post. 

Paul Kane was born in Ireland in 1810, but his parents moved to Toronto around 1822. He discovered his interest in painting early and patched together a living painting signs, furniture, and portraits. Finally, he was able to cover the costs of a trip to Europe to study the great masters. Unable to afford actual classes, Kane did what many artists do today; he copied originals. While in London, Kane ran into George Catlin, that famous American painter of Indians. Enamored of Catlin's tales of the West and his paintings, Kane decided this would be his driving ambition for the aboriginal peoples of Canada. 

When he returned to Canada, Kane met John Ballenden who then recommended Kane to Sir George Simpson, the head of the Hudson's Bay Company. 

Simpson commissioned a few paintings for his private collection and offered Kane carte blanche to travel to Fort Vancouver. Kane very nearly missed the first leg of the journey when the boat left early, but somehow, he caught up. The rest is history, a slew of gorgeous paintings that capture native life on the Plains and in the wild upcountry of Rupert's Land. 

Photograph of Paul Kane
about 1850 (Wikipedia)

Of course, historically speaking, Kane did not begin this journey until late 1846, in fact, a little late to be making that Rocky Mountain crossing. And there's my heroine, abandoned at York Factory in the fall of 1842.  How did she survive until 1846? Here's where plot twists begin. My only quibble is that I wanted Kane to be addicted to laudanum, but I can't quite bring myself to do that to a historical personage!

Paul Kane's Wanderings of an Artist Among the Indians of North America tracks his journey with much detail, organized by date, a fascinating read. He was quick to give a hand to his fellow travelers and equally slow to leave a spot he wished to sketch. Perhaps he needed an apprentice helper along the way, someone to organize and carry his art supplies.

Paul Kane's self-portrait,  
about 1845 (Wikipedia)

Compare the photograph of Paul Kane above with this self-portrait, painted sometime in 1845, rather closer to that time at the age of 36, he began his journey west.

You can read more in Diane Eaton and Sheila Urbanek's beautifully illustrated book, Paul Kane's Great Nor-West.

One of the great joys of writing historical fiction is the invitation to dive into the research of another time and somehow reconstruct the 'reality' of what it once was like. If you write, what role does research play for you?

Check out what others are posting for the April A to Z Blogging Challenge HERE.

J is for Just Another Poem and a Little about Jasper House

Outside the white choke cherry 
blossoms so full this year,
the branches dip down.
No wind,
no rain
to end their beauty. 
At least not today.
That's the lesson
of this season. 
New life is fragile,
as is old life,
and yet the seasons turn,
another spring of pink and white,
of strength in small things.
Everything is going to be all right.

Spring at Manito Park, Spokane (Camp)

I had planned to write about Jasper House today, a way station in what is now in Jasper National Park, Canada. Road construction prevented us from stopping at the actual site where no trace of the house remains, but we saw the mountains and encountered a snowstorm in August. 

Back in fur trading days, the brigades stopped at Jasper House to trade canoes and boats for pack horses on the trek across the Rockies.

In the 1840s, you might have met Colin Fraser here, a former bagpiper for Sir George Simpson, the head of the Hudson's Bay Company, who traveled across Canada to visit these far flung posts, and announced his arrival with a skirl of music. 

Fraser lived at Jasper House in a two-room cabin, one for all comers, and the other for his family, his Cree wife and nine children. Paul Kane visited here in 1847 on his trek to Fort Vancouver and "got an Indian" to make him a pair of snowshoes for the crossing of the Rockies. His words. I do not think he paid for the snowshoes with money, for Kane traveled very light. Maybe he exchanged a painting for them, for his gift was valued highly.

Paul Kane, "Sketch of Jasper House" 1847 (Source WikiArt)

Have you wondered what happened in the places you've visited in years gone past? One delight of writing historical fiction is digging into research.  Discover what others have written by visiting other blogs in this A to Z Blogging Challenge.

Standing Stones a finalist . . .

I'm thrilled to learn that Standing Stones was selected as a finalist in this year's Pacific Northwest Writers Association literary contest. Over 1100 writers entered with nearly 100 chosen as finalists in 12 categories. Results will be announced July 24 at an awards dinner in Seattle. I'm going!

C. C. Humphreys is the keynote speaker at the dinner. This accomplished writer gives his occupation as "writer, actor, and fight choreographer," so I'm sure to learn something new. He's on my reading list now, along with other research which pulls me in many different directions -- all 19th Century but in Tasmania, China, Hawai'i, and along the fur traders' routes in Canada west from York to Fort Vancouver.

I found a gem in Paul Kane (1810-1871) who, inspired by George Catlin, painted to preserve the culture and images of the great wilderness of the West. Kane gained permission to travel with the Hudson's Bay Company fur brigades west and painted landscapes of Native peoples across Canada.

He left Toronto in May and arrived (after many adventures and misadventures) at Fort Vancouver in December, 1846. That's over 6 months on the road in far more rugged conditions we experience today, even when we go camping. He hunkered down at Fort Vancouver and then travelled throughout the Willamette Valley and north, including a stop at Fort Victoria.

Somewhere along the way, Kane painted an eruption of Mt. St. Helens at night (1847, source Wikipedia). You'll note the eruption comes (accurately) from the side of the cone, so not as significant as the big blow-up in 1980, but this must have had an impact on the peoples living there at that time. I also learned that Kane visited the Whitman Mission just a few months before the massacre there. Ah, the links that research brings!

Thanks to the library, I have Diane Eaton and Sheila Urbanek's book, Paul Kane's Great Nor-West with its wonderful commentary and diary excerpts to accompany his paintings. Now, back to work . . .