12 



THE LATE, PETER WARREN 

 WENTWORTH BELL 



Among the forty-two unfortunate passengers who perish- 

 ed miserably when the ill-fated steamer " Islander " went to 

 her doom early in the morning of 15th August, 1901, near 

 Juneau, Alaska, was Chief Factor Peter Warren Wentworth 

 Bell, of the Hudson's Bay Company, and for many years a 

 corresponding member of the Historical Society, Winnipeg. 

 Mr. Bell was on his return to Victoria, B.C., in company with 

 Dr. John Duncan, M.D., of that city — another victim — from a 

 special journey made by them to Dawson City and Stewart 

 River, Yukon Territory. On this occasion they both travelled 

 by Peterboro' canoe 700 miles of the distance between Skag- 

 way and Dawson, and from there to the Stewart, 90 miles each 

 way, on horseback. 



Mr. Bell was the eldest son of the late Chief Trader John 

 Bell, a native of Argyllshire, Scotland, who for many years 

 held the charge of Fort Good Hope, Mackenzie River, North 

 West Territory, and was born at Norway House, Rupert's 

 Land, on 21st December, 1831. His maternal grandfather 

 was Chief Factor P. W. Dease, of Dease and Simpson, the 

 celebrated Hudson's Bay Arctic explorers. In due time, like 

 many of his country-born contemporaries, he was sent to school 

 to the old Red River Settlement, and there, like many of them, 

 he acquired a sound practical business education, under the 

 zealous and talented Academy teacher of that time, the late 

 Rev. John McCallum. Like many of them also, Mr. Bell be- 

 gan life as an apprentice clerk in the service of the Hudson's 

 Bay Company. He entered on his duties in the Spring of 

 1852, and finally, after a progressively successful career of 

 forty-two years, through the various grades of Clerk, Chief 

 Trader, Factor and Chief Factor, he retired from the service 

 in the autumn of 1893. 



