238 THEOUGH THE MACKEi;rZIE BASm 



of his partners in trade, and with, a desire for the well-being of 

 mankind in general." He died in Scotland on the 12tli of March, 

 1820. 



Another great explorer and trader of the Hudson's Bay Com- 

 pany, the notable Chief Trader Thomas Simpson, likewise calls for 

 some proper reference herein. He was a native of Dingwall, in 

 the County of Ross, North Britain, and entered the service of the 

 Company as secretary to his relative, the resident " emperor- 

 governor," Sir George Simpson. He left Fort Garry, Red River, oh 

 December 1, 1836, for Fort Chipewyan, whence he was to set out 

 in company with the prudent, capable and experienced Chief Factor 

 Peter Warren Dease (the builder and provider of .Fort Franklin, 

 on Great Bear Lake, where Sir John Franklin passed the winter 

 after his return from his second overland expedition to the northern 

 coast in 1826), in order to complete the exploratory work of that 

 party west and east of the mouth of the Mackenzie River. All 

 know how well these officers performed the duties entrusted to 

 them. A perusal of Simpson's narrative of their explorations 

 should prove interesting to Canadians. General Sabine, who revised 

 the same, wrote as follows : " I found the work In a state of such 

 complete preparation that the alterations which I saw any occasion 

 to make were very few indeed, and these chiefly of a verbal nature. 

 It impressed me with an additionally high respect for your brother's 

 memory, that he should have drawn up the narrative of the expe- 

 dition on the spot in such a complete manner that it might quite 

 well have been printed verbatim.'' On the 6th of June, 1840, 

 Simpson, who had returned to Fort Garry on the preceding 2nd of 

 February, after an absence of three years and two months, marked 

 by toils, perils and privations such as have seldom been endured, 

 set out for England by crossing the prairies to St. Peter's (St. 

 Paul and Minneapolis were not in existence then), and thence to 

 New York. He pursued his journey with much rapidity, left the 

 main body of buffalo hunters with whom he started, and in com- 

 pany with four men went on ahead. On a chart which was found 

 among his other papers after his death his last recorded day's 

 march (June 11) was 47 miles in a direct line. After that date 

 every circumstance is involved in mystery. He had evidently 

 turned back, and all that can be ascertained with certainty is that 

 on the afternoon of the 13th or 14th of June he shot two of his 

 men, and that the other two mounted their horses and rejoined 

 the large brigade of hunters. A party of them went next morning 

 to the scene of the shooting where his death took place. " Whether 

 he Shot the two men in self-defense, and was subsequently killed 



