Alexander Ross

May 9, 1783 (age 72)

Moray, Scotland

On his emigration to Canada in 1804, Ross obtained employment as a schoolteacher. At Montreal, in May 1810, he met Wilson Price Hunt, with whom he engaged as a clerk of Astor's Pacific Fur Company and in September sailed from New York on the Tonquin. He aided in the building of Fort Astoria, and later of Fort Okanogan, of which he was several times in charge. In 1814, following the sale of Astoria, he joined the North West Company and in 1816 was second in command at Fort George. He was a member of the expedition that in July 1818 founded Fort Nez Percés, popularly known as Fort Walla Walla, where he remained in charge for more than five years. For a time after the absorption of the North West Company by the Hudson's Bay Company he continued at his post. In the fall of 1823 he resigned and started east but was persuaded to lead an expedition into the Snake River country. Leaving Flathead House, at the present Eddy, Mont. , on February 10, 1824, he penetrated the present Idaho as far as the mouth of Boise River, unexpectedly encountering six American trappers, led by Jedediah S. Smith. By November he was back at his starting place. In the spring of 1825 he again started east but halted at the Red River colony, where he was to reside for the remainder of his life. On the site of the present Winnipeg he received a grant of 100 acres of land. He was appointed the colony's first sheriff and retained the post for many years. His Adventures of the First Settlers on the Oregon or Columbia River was published in London in 1849. Six years later came The Fur Hunters of the Far West in two volumes and in 1856 The Red River Settlement. Many years after his death a few of his letters were published by George Bryce in Transactions of the Historical and Scientific Society of Manitoba (No. 63, 1903) and his journal of the Snake Country expedition in 1824 was edited by T. C. Elliott in the Quarterly of the Oregon Historical Society (December 1913). He died in "Colony Gardens, " now a part of Winnipeg. The captious criticism of his writings in Bancroft (post, esp. I, 579 and II, 238) has been generally disregarded by later students.

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Works

book

Adventures of the First Settlers on the Oregon or Columbia River, 1810-1813

(A vivid historical account of John Jacob Astor's Pacific ...)

The Fur Hunters of the Far West (American Exploration and Travel Series)

( Alexander Ross offers a completely authentic account of...)

The Red River Settlement: Its Rise, Progress, and Present State, With Some Account of the Native Races and Its General History, to the Present Day (Classic Reprint)

(Excerpt from The Red River Settlement: Its Rise, Progress...)

the Fur Hunter of the Far West

(The Fur Hunters of the Far West)

Alexander Ross Edit Profile

explorer trader author

Background

Alexander Ross was born in Moray, Scotland, the son of Alexander Ross, a farmer.

Education

He received a good education.

Career

On his emigration to Canada in 1804, Ross obtained employment as a schoolteacher. At Montreal, in May 1810, he met Wilson Price Hunt, with whom he engaged as a clerk of Astor's Pacific Fur Company and in September sailed from New York on the Tonquin. He aided in the building of Fort Astoria, and later of Fort Okanogan, of which he was several times in charge.

In 1814, following the sale of Astoria, he joined the North West Company and in 1816 was second in command at Fort George. He was a member of the expedition that in July 1818 founded Fort Nez Percés, popularly known as Fort Walla Walla, where he remained in charge for more than five years. For a time after the absorption of the North West Company by the Hudson's Bay Company he continued at his post.

In the fall of 1823 he resigned and started east but was persuaded to lead an expedition into the Snake River country. Leaving Flathead House, at the present Eddy, Mont. , on February 10, 1824, he penetrated the present Idaho as far as the mouth of Boise River, unexpectedly encountering six American trappers, led by Jedediah S. Smith.

By November he was back at his starting place. In the spring of 1825 he again started east but halted at the Red River colony, where he was to reside for the remainder of his life. On the site of the present Winnipeg he received a grant of 100 acres of land. He was appointed the colony's first sheriff and retained the post for many years.

His Adventures of the First Settlers on the Oregon or Columbia River was published in London in 1849. Six years later came The Fur Hunters of the Far West in two volumes and in 1856 The Red River Settlement. Many years after his death a few of his letters were published by George Bryce in Transactions of the Historical and Scientific Society of Manitoba (No. 63, 1903) and his journal of the Snake Country expedition in 1824 was edited by T. C. Elliott in the Quarterly of the Oregon Historical Society (December 1913). He died in "Colony Gardens, " now a part of Winnipeg. The captious criticism of his writings in Bancroft (post, esp. I, 579 and II, 238) has been generally disregarded by later students.

Achievements

Ross was a man of exceptional abilities and was greatly esteemed by all who knew him, white and red alike. For the first fourteen years of the white man's occupation of Oregon he was an energetic and influential participant in the activities of the region, and for the history of a considerable part of the period he remains almost the sole first-hand authority. Ross was the founder of Fort Astoria, Fort Okanogan and Fort Nez Percés.