James Sinclair began working for the Hudson Bay Company in 1826. He was the son of HBC officer Willian Sinclair. He initially worked at both Fort Albany and Chickney Goose Tent, located in Ontario.
In 1827, he relocated to the Red River Settlement in Manitoba and became a private trader. He later began fur trading, selling the furs back to the Hudson Bay Company. The goal was to keep American competitors from accessing the furs.
This is also the reason that the HBC wanted to reduce population growth in the settlement. To do this and improve Great Britain’s claim to the area, they arranged for a group of families to move into Oregon at the Columbia River. Sinclair was the guide who led the settlers through the plains and Rocky Mountains.
He would eventually move to the Oregon Territory, living in both Oregon and California. He would later become the head of HBC’s Fort Walla Walla. On March 26, 1856, he would be killed during an attack by Native Americans at the fort.
Historical Marker Inscription
In 1841, Sinclair guided 200 Red River settlers from Fort Garry through the Rockies to Oregon in an attempt to hold the territory for Great Britain. By 1854 he had recrossed the mountains several times by routes which later were followed by trails and highways — a tribute to this great pathfinder, traveller, free trader and colonizer.
Providence of British Columbia
1966
Location
50° 36’ 3.852” N, 116° 3’ 31.050” W
7875–7889 Highway 93, Radium Hot Springs BC V0A 1M0, Canada
Historical Markers of the World 