Template talk:Columbia Department

New Caledonia moves-out and other matters
I moved Fts Simpson, McLoughlin, Langley and Kamloops out of the New Caledonia section; as explained in Wade's The Thompson Country (full text is linked on Thompson Country) Fort Alexandria was the southern limit of the New Caledonia Fur District; Kamloops (Fort Shuswap or Thompson's River Post) was in what lay in between Alexandria and Okanagan, "the Thompson Country". There were other posts in the area too, such as the one Chief Nicola manned for them at okanaqen ("head of the lake" i.e. near Vernon BC) for a season, and others in what is now the Kootenays; Boat Encampment was just a cache, not a post. Post-partition there were of course Fort Shepherd (sp? - the surrogate for Ft Colville after partition, near modern Trail/Castlegar), a post at Keremeos often called a fort though technically it wasn't, and of course Forts Yale and Dallas (Lytton) and the never-got-finished Fort Berens at Lillooet. I missed it - was Fort Rupert on here? Kamloops in any case reported to Fort Vancouver, then after partition to Fort Langley or Fort Victoria, not sure which.

The "New Caledonia confusion" is the result of that term having become unofficial for the residual British claim on the mainland, before it was officially made a colony and renamed in 1958; there's a difference between that usage for the pre-colony mainland and the fur district's name/jurisdiction.

Other posts not directly attached to New Caledonia were those in the Liard and Cassiar areas, e.g. Lake House (Dease Lake) and Lower Post. Maybe an "Others" section could be added for those, as they're also "Pacific Northwest" (if Fort Yukon/Selkirk is then they would be). Gold rush-era outlets were also at Seymour Arm on Shuswap Lake and at Wild Horse Creek (Fort Kootenay/Fisherville but neither were forts or even posts, just stores I think.....same as in Barkerville and other places where they had a commercial presence without being fur-trading posts/factories/posts.

I think there's more in New Caledonia proper that aren't on there yet; I'll look into it.Skookum1 (talk) 05:42, 2 December 2014 (UTC)


 * Bridge Creek House (100 Mile House) just occurred to me too, and an old waypost at Vidette Lake.Skookum1 (talk) 05:59, 2 December 2014 (UTC)
 * Hm, also Fort Nanaimo no?Skookum1 (talk) 06:18, 2 December 2014 (UTC)

Not sure what to do with Fort Selkirk but if Fort Yukon is here, it should be too. Fort Yukon wasn't in New Caledonia or the Columbia Department jurisdictions, it and Selkirk and I guess Lower Post and Lake House were North-West Territory and administered by wherever that was run from. Given the PacNW/Columbia Department scope of this template maybe none of them should be, just as the forts in the Peace Country aren't shown.

Also, re the Puget Sound Agricultural Company, was it Craigflower Farm that was their property on Vancouver Island? And other lands around Victoria, too, I think; the word "stations" is problematic about that.Skookum1 (talk) 08:46, 2 December 2014 (UTC)