John Bell (~1799 – 1868)

John Bell was born on the Island of Mull, Scotland. He joined the North West Company in 1818 and stayed with the company after it merged with the Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) in 1921. He served in the Winnipeg River region until 1824 when he was transferred to the Mackenzie River District. He married Nancy Dease, daughter of HBC chief factor Peter Dease. Bell was appointed clerk of Fort Good Hope in the winter of 1825-26. The HBC Board of Directors wanted to expand their trade in the north and in 1838 directed Bell to explore west of the Mackenzie River. In 1839, he travelled from the mouth of the Peel River and in 1840 established a post at Fort McPherson where he was in charge until 1845. He was appointed chief trader in 1841. In 1842, he crossed the mountains west of the Peel and descended the Rat (Bell) River to the Porcupine River where his guide deserted, and he had to return to Fort McPherson. In 1845 he followed the Porcupine River to its confluence with the Yukon River. Bell left the region in 1846 suffering from ill health. His route to the Yukon River proved to be very profitable for the HBC.((Joan Craig, “John Bell,” //Dictionary of Canadian Biography,// 2018 website: http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/bell_john_1868_9E.html)) This was despite Bell not finding the water connection between the upper Bell and the Rat rivers. Alexander Murray Hunter took over the area in 1847, and he bypassed the Rat River to sled across the Peel River Portage to LaPierre House, established in the mid-1840s.((I.S. McLaren and Lisa N. La Famboise (editors), Clara Vyvyan, //The Ladies, the Gwich’in, and the Rat.// University of Alberta Press, 1998: XXVII.))

In 1847, Bell led an advance party north from York Factory, and in 1848-49 he organized living accommodations at Fort Confidence to support Sir John Richardson and Dr. John Rae in their search for Sir John Franklin’s expedition. Bell was ordered to stay in the Mackenzie River District after 1848, and he took charge of the district in 1850-51. In 1851, he left for Oxford House and then Cumberland House where he took charge of that district in 1852-53. He supervised the HBC’s Athabasca District from Fort Chipewyan from 1853 to 1857. He then took furlough before spending his final years with the HBC in Canada East. He resigned with ill health in 1860.((Joan Craig, “John Bell,” //Dictionary of Canadian Biography,// 2018 website: http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/bell_john_1868_9E.html))