The viewpoint is at a point on the highway which is well above the valley floor. At the viewpoint, when one stands reading the marker they have the Rocky Mountains at their back, the wide Columbia River Valley in front with the backdrop of the Purcell Mountains behind.
James Sinclair was born in 1810 or 1811 in Rupert’s Land, now Manitoba, and educated in Scotland at Edinburgh University. Sinclair returned to Canada and began working as an independent fur trader, later joining the Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC). In 1841 the HBC organized a party of 23 families of Metis to emigrate from Red River, Manitoba to Oregon Territory in the Columbia River Valley in an attempt to solidify HBC and British claims on the Oregon Territory. The party was led by Sinclair, arriving at Fort Vancouver on October 13, 1841. In 1842 James returned to Red River.
Apparently Sinclair disagreed with many of the ideas and ideals of the HBC and, as a result, the managers at Fort Garry conspired to rid themselves of him by organizing another party of emigrants and putting him in charge of one of the Oregon posts. This group set out from Ft. Garry in May of 1854, and arrived at Walla Walla, Washington in November where Sinclair took over as Chief Trader.
Two years later, on March 26, 1856 Sinclair was killed in an Indian attack by Yakima, Klickitat, and Cascades Indians at the settlement at The Cascades while still in the employ of the Hudson’s Bay Company. The Cascades is north of Portland on the Columbia River.
Read an in depth account of the life of
James Sinclair, including stories of the smuggling and other intrigue which took place surrounding the HBC post at Fort Garry.
Text from the marker follows
JAMES SINCLAIR
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.
PROVINCE OF
BRITISH COLUMBIA
1966