James Sinclair

Who was James Sinclair?

James Sinclair was a trader and explorer with the Hudson's Bay Company. He was the son of Hudson's Bay Company factor William Sinclair, from Eastaquoy in Harray, and his Cree wife, Nahovway. He was a brother of William Sinclair. James was born in Rupert's Land and educated in Scotland at Edinburgh University. He twice led large parties of settlers half-way across Canada, from the Red River Valley to the Columbia River valley.

The Treaty of 1818 set the boundary between the United States and British North America along the 49th parallel of north latitude from present day Minnesota to the "Stony Mountains". Under the treaty, the boundary in the Columbia District had not been fixed under a policy of "joint occupancy" of lands west of the continental divide. The Hudson's Bay Company, which controlled much of the Oregon Country, discouraged settlement because it interfered with the lucrative fur trade. However by 1838, American settlers were coming across the Rockies. Many left from St. Louis, Missouri on the Oregon Trail; a fairly direct route passable by wagons via South Pass through the Rockies.

British traders, missionaries and settlers used the Carlton Trail, which followed the Red River north, then crossed Lake Winnipeg and followed the Saskatchewan River system west to Fort Edmonton. They then went on to Jasper House and the southern leg of the well established HBC York Factory Express route over the Athabasca Pass and down the Columbia River to Fort Vancouver. This route was longer than the route followed by the Americans, and west of Fort Edmonton wheeled vehicles could not cross the mountain passes, but the route was entirely in British-controlled territory.