[howay] the raison D'ETRE OF FORTS YALE AND HOPE 51 



regular schedule. "A beautiful sight," says Malcolm McLeod, "was 

 that horse brigade, with no broken hacks in the train, but every 

 animal in his full beauty of form and colour, and all so tractable — 

 more tractable than anything I ever knew of in civilized life." '" At 

 Okanagan the brigade was joined by the bateaux from Fort Colvile, 

 carrying the returns from the upper Columbia and the Kootenay. 

 This route became effective in 1826,^^ and from that time "the 

 brigade," "the arrival of the brigade," and "the brigade trail" are 

 expressions found constantly in the records of New Caledonia. 



So for twenty years the trade ran along. In the meantime the 

 Oregon Question had arisen and developed into a heated subject of 

 discussion. The company had, as early as 1825, officially informed 

 Dr. McLaughlin "that in no event could the British claim extend 

 south of the Columbia;" ^' but it soon became evident that the 

 boundary would in all probability be drawn much further north. 

 This meant that Fort Vancouver, its headquarters, would fall within 

 American territory; hence the determination to establish Fort 

 Victoria. The minutes of the meeting at Norway House in 1842 

 record with charming generality: " It being considered in many points 

 of view expedient to form a Depot at the Southern end of Vancouver's 

 Island it is Resolved that an eligible site for such a Depot be selected 

 and that measures be adopted for forming this Establishment with 

 the least possible delay." ^^ In the following year the entry runs: 

 "That the New Establishment to be formed on the Straits of Fuca 

 to be named Fort Victoria be erected on a scale sufficiently extensive 

 to answer the purposes of the Depot; the square of the Fort to be 

 not less than 150 yards; the buildings to be substantial and erected 

 as far apart as the grounds may admit with a view to guarding against 

 fire." ^^ Fort Victoria was accordingly built in 1843. 



The Oregon Question, after having brought the two countries to 

 the brink of war, was settled by the Treaty of Washington, 1846. 

 Having in view the existing route of the company a provision was 

 inserted that the navigation of the Columbia from the 49th parallel 



^"Peace River; ACanoe Voyage, etc., by Malcolm McLeod, Ottawa, 1872, p. 114. 



^^Peace River, p. 93; and see a note by T. C. Elliott appended to Work's 

 Journal in Washington Historical Quarterly, vol. v, p. 101. 



i^Document Found Among the Papers of the Late Dr. John McLaughlin and 

 published in the Transactions of Oregon Pioneer Association, 1880; The Acquisition 

 of Oregon, by William L Marshall, Seattle, 1911, vol. i, pp. 166-7. 



i^The Canadian North-West, edited by E. H. Oliver, Ottawa, 1915, vol. ii, 

 p. 846. 



"The Canadian North-West, vol. ii, p. 862. 



