Wandering Lizard

Biographical Notes

Peter Skene Ogden

Ogden commenced his fifth Snake River expedition on September 22, 1828. Julia and the five children were again with him. This time he proceeded through Eastern Oregon south into present-day Utah and Nevada. Late in December 1828 Joseph Paul, one of Ogden's best trappers, died from exposure and was buried alongside a river in Nevada. Ogden and his men referred to this river in a number of ways. His first mention of it in his journals was as the "Unknown River." Following Paul's death it is referred to as "Paul's River." Ogden's trappers christened it "Mary's River" in honor of Julia Mary Ogden. Later travelers called it "St. Mary's River." Still later it was given its current name of "Humboldt River" by John Fremont in honor of the German geographer Alexander von Humboldt. It's banks were to become an important highway across Nevada for the pioneers a few decades later. Ogden's party returned to Fort Nez Perce early in July 1829. it was the last time that he and his family travelled together. Peter was sent to school in Red River Settlement and Julia and the other four children established themselves at Fort Nez Perce in the home of Julia's mother. Ogden went on to Fort Vancouver that summer and prepared for his sixth Snake River expedition.

Ogden departed Fort Nez Perce late in the summer of 1829. Due to an accident at the end of his trip his journal was lost, but it is known that he travelled south along the eastern edge of the Sierra Mountains all the way to the Gulf of Cortez. In 1830 he trapped the San Joaquin River in California in competition with an American trapping party led by Ewing Young. He also met Kit Carson who was a member of Young's party. On returning to Fort Vancouver in the fall of 1830, Governor Simpson ordered him to establish a new HBC post at the mouth of the Nass River. He and his family embarked on the HBC schooner Cadboro in the Spring of 1831, crossed the bar at the mouth of the Columbia River and sailed a thousand miles north to the estuary of the lower Nass River in present day British Columbia. American ships were trading along the coast of Canada and Ogden's instructions were to pay whatever it took to keep the region's furs out of the hands of the Ameicans. The first season he purchased 3,000 pelts and lost 1,600 pounds in the process. Although he was dissatisfied with his performance the company was not. He remained at Fort Simpson on the Nass River for three seasons. In the Spring of 1834 he was ordered to establish a new post on the Stikine River in southern Alaska. The post itself was to be in British controlled territory but the mouth of the river was under the control of the Russians. The Russian Governor of Alaska, Baron Wrangle, had watched Ogden attack the American trade along the coast of Canada and did not want him anywhere near his own operations in Alaska. He successfully blocked Ogden's ship from passing the mouth of the Stikine River. Ogden returned to the Nass River where he dismantled the old fort and moved it to a more sheltered spot in McLoughlin Harbor in the estuary of the Nass River.

In October 1834, after completing the construction of the new Fort Simpson at McLoughlin Harbor, Ogden returned to Fort Vancouver. In the spring of 1835 he was commissioned Chief Factor and ordered to take control of the New Caledonia District (present-day British Columbia). He and his family moved into their new quarters at Fort St. James on Stuart Lake in the summer of 1835. As Chief Factor, Ogden was the ultimate British authority in a region four times the size of Great Britain. He did well and during his tenure New Caledonia netted the HBC about 10,000 pounds a year. During the years that the family lived at Fort St. James, two more children were born to Peter and Julia. In the summer of 1841 while visiting Fort Vancouver, Ogden met Lieutenant Charles Wilkes, then on an extensive voyage of exploration for the United States government. In the summer of 1844 he took a year of absence and traveled across Canada and on to England and the Continent. He visited with family in Eastern Canada and in England before returning to Canada. In Canada he was instructed to assist two British army officers, Lieutenants Henry J. Warre and M. Vavasour, in their inspection of the Oregon Territory. Britain was evaluating its options in Oregon in the face of increasing American settlement of the region. The two Lieutenant's report did not recommend military action and predicted the loss of British authority in the region. Ogden believed that the ultimate resolution of the Oregon sovereignty issue would be peaceful in nature.

In 1845 Ogden was relieved of his responsibilities at Fort St. James and appointed to a board of management that was established in Fort Vancouver for the Columbia District. The board consisted of Peter Ogden, James Douglas, and Dr. John McLoughlin. HBC Governor Simpson had come to trust Ogden and wanted him involved in dealing with the situation that was developing in the Oregon Territory. In 1846 McLoughlin, who had fallen out of favor with Governor Simpson, was forced to retire and Ogden and Douglas continued. On June 15, 1846, the United States signed the treaty with Great Britain that established an international border along the 49th parallel. Ogden and the Hudson Bay Company at Fort Vancouver were now doing business in the United States. Generally speaking relations between the British and Americans living in the Oregon Territory remained amicable during the entire period and Ogden developed numerous friendships with the American settlers. In December 1847 Ogden led the party that rescued the survivors of the Whitman massacre in Walla Walla. In January 1847 Oregon Governor Abernathy wrote to Ogden expressing his thanks and specifically noting that Americans alone would have been unable to accomplish their rescue from the Cayuse Indians that held them. In 1852 Ogden travelled to Washington D.C. to help Governor Simpson negotiate the removal of the Hudson Bay Company from American territory. His role in the Whitman affair gave him considerable personal standing but did not help much in the negotiations. The two men met with President Millard Fillmore but were unable to secure payment for HBC property that remained in the Oregon Territory.

On January 5, 1853, Ogden departed New York on the Georgia, crossed the Panama Isthmus, and boarded the Tennessee bound for San Francisco. On March 6, 1853, the Tennessee missed the Golden Gate and foundered on the rocks of the Marin Headlands. Ogden walked to Sausalito and returned to salvage his luggage the following day. He was lucky and managed to recover a sizable quantity of gold that was in an unlocked valise. He made it back to Fort Vancouver in March and continued to preside over HBC affairs until ill health forced him to retire to a home that he and Julia had purchased in Oregon City. He died in bed on September 27, 1854. Following Peter's death, Julia was involved in a long court battle over her husband's will. Eventually she received a part of what he had intended her to have and she moved to Lac la Hache, British Columbia where she died in January 1886.

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