Alexander Hunter Murray

Who was Alexander Hunter Murray?

Alexander Hunter Murray was a Hudson's Bay Company fur trader and artist.

In 1847, he established the trading post at Fort Yukon at the juncture of the Yukon and Porcupine rivers in the land of the Gwichʼin people. While the post was actually in Russian Alaska, the Hudson's Bay Company continued to trade there until expelled by the US government in 1869, following the Alaska Purchase.

He drew numerous sketches of fur trade posts and of people and wrote Journal of the Yukon, 1847–48, which give valuable insight into the culture of local First Nation people at the time.

According to the Parish Registers at the General Register Office in Edinburgh four brothers were registered at Crawfordjohn, Lanarkshire:

Thomas Hunter Murray on October 25, 1813

Alexander William Hunter Murray on October 22, 1815

William Murray on April 13, 1817

Ebenezer Murray on May 21, 1819

Alexander, William and Ebenezer were all in Canada by 1841, but found steady work very difficult to find. Alex joined the American Fur Company in 1842 and Hudson's Bay Company in 1846.