History

Originally a First Nations route for hunting and trade, this trail played a key role in British Columbia’s early development.

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BC’s First Link Between Coast and Interior

Completed in 1849, the HBC Trail was built by the Hudson’s Bay Company with the help of local First Nations. They built the trail to link the Fraser River at Fort Hope with Fort Kamloops and other important fur forts farther north to Stuart Lake.  For more than a decade, the HBC’s fur empire in Western North America depended on this trail. 

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Hundreds of pack animals and men crossed the Cascade Mountains on this trail from 1849 to 1860.  

Hudson’s Bay Company “Brigades” were essential for getting valuable furs to world markets, and for re-supplying HBC Forts in the BC Interior and far North.  BC’s early economy developed around this trail and the fur industry it supported. 

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Original flag of the Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC).  Established in 1670, the HBC is the oldest private corporation in North America and one of the oldest in the world.

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Ancient Pathways

The HBC Trail falls within the traditional territory of three First Nations.  The Stó:lo, Nlaka'pamux (Thompson), and Similkameen used trails over the Cascade Mountains to gather plants, hunt, and trade with each other.

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Coastal and Interior groups each had resources the other needed.  Coastal
villages traded dried salmon, sockeye oil, rare shells, and cedar products.
Interior groups traded valuable plants, including tobacco, sage, and Indian hemp — a critical plant for making fishing nets, rope, and clothing.

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When Hudson’s Bay Company explorers arrived in search of a new fur trade route over the Cascades, they hired First Nations guides to lead them.  A respected Similkameen chief named “Blackeye” showed his hunting route over the Tulameen Plateau to A.C. Anderson in 1846, and this became the inspiration for the HBC fur brigade trail of 1849.

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There was much collaboration between First Nations and European fur traders in the years that followed, and in general, this early relationship was beneficial to both.

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A network of mountain trails have enabled First Nations to gather plants and hunt for centuries.  
Women used "tumpline baskets" like this to carry berries, bulbs, and medicinal plants from local mountains back to their villages.

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First Nations horse packers in the 1890’s.  Stó:lo, Nlaka'pamux, and Similkameen members worked for the Hudson's Bay Company along the trail as trappers, cooks, packers, guides, and postal carriers. Many First Nations also traded directly with HBC forts, gaining access to valuable goods such as hunting rifles, cooking pots, and steel tools.

Fur & Politics

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HBC Fort Hope

Fort Hope was established by the Hudson’s Bay Company in 1848, beside the Stó:lo village of Ts’qó:ls.  The new fort would function as the HBC’s key transfer point between mountain fur trails and Fraser River boats.  Its name reflected the company’s desperation to replace trade routes lost to the Americans in 1846. This new fort was their best hope. 

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The original Hudson’s Bay Company Store (right) on Water Street in Hope.
 

The “Brigade Trail” of 1849

In the summer of 1848, HBC surveyor Henry Peers and a company of 10 men built the trading post at Fort Hope while also frantically building the "Brigade Trail" from Fort Hope to Fort Kamloops.  The trail had to be ready by the spring of 1849, to enable HBC furs from the BC Interior to reach the Coast.  The previous year had been a disaster when 70 packhorses perished while trying to negotiate the deadly Fraser Canyon.

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Peers’ trail was a success, and for the next decade, brigades of up to 400 cattle, pack horses, and men regularly pounded the rugged trail between Otter Lake and Hope.

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HBC brigades typically crossed these mountains in late summer and fall when snowpack had melted and water levels were low, allowing for easier river crossings.

Death on the Trail

Horses of the HBC Brigades had to cross mountains and rivers with heavy loads. Each horse carried two 90-lb "pieces" containing everything from fur and gold to mail and tools.  Many pack animals died from extreme weather, injury, and physical stress.  In his 1859 account, Lieutenant Palmer of the Royal Engineers describes his horse becoming spooked by the bleached bones of horses that had died by the dozens during an autumn snow storm a few years before.

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Life was hard on the men too.  Some died on the trail, and the average life expectancy of an HBC employee was 45 years.  Most famously, an HBC Chief Trader named Paul Fraser was killed at Campement du Chevreuil (Deer Camp) when a tree fell on his tent.  The tree had been felled by his own men.  Fraser was widely despised, and many historians have speculated that it was no accident.

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Decline of the HBC Trail

The Brigade Trail declined in use when better trails were constructed during the 1860’s.  By then, gold fever had eclipsed the fur trade, and routes such as the Dewdney Trail and the Cariboo Wagon Road offered better access to the Interior.  However, the HBC Trail continued to be used for several decades by First Nations, trappers, miners, and hunters.

Heritage Context Study

The Sto:lo Research and Resource Management Centre, in collaboration with the Upper Similkameen Indian Band, have completed a detailed study of the trail corridor, including First Nations history, European history, and natural history.  You can read it here. The report makes recommendations for the long-term management of the trail and its resources, as required by the BC Heritage Branch.