Exclusive Program – “The Cowlitz Portage” Hudson Bay Company Adventures
Overland Adventures with George, Jim, Hank & Ed of the Hudson’s Bay Company, 1840-1850. This fully illustrated presentation will introduce audiences to the Cowlitz Portage through the experiences of four travelers. The first being the Hudson’s Bay Company’s North American Governor George Simpson, who traveled the portage in 1841. The second traveler was the HBC’s Chief Factor James Douglas who rode it through the snow in 1843. A third was an HBC apprentice clerk named Henry Peers, who made a difficult passage in 1845. And finally, Edward Huggins, our fourth traveler, bested the trail in 1850 as a tenderfoot – but recorded his memories for those of us in the 21st century. The audience will follow all four of these travelers’ trips while moving simultaneously from Fort Vancouver on the Columbia River northward to Fort Nisqually on Puget Sound.
Presented by Steve Anderson – Professional Historian
Steve Anderson, a native Washingtonian, earned a B.A. in History from Colorado State University (1978) and received graduate credit in museum studies from the University of Idaho (1979). During the 1980s, he was the director for Fort Nisqually Living History Museum in Tacoma, Washington. Since then, he has administered small museums and historic sites in Renton, Washington, St. Louis, Missouri, and Morehead City, North Carolina. Now in retirement, his focus is local “nearby” history, principally that involving Fort Nisqually, the Hudson’s Bay Company and the Pacific Northwest Fur trade.
