Robert Campbell (1808 - 1894)
Robert Campbell was born in Glen Lyon, Scotland and grew up to work as an assistant on his father’s sheep farm. The Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) hired him in 1830 to set up an experimental farm at the Red River settlement in Manitoba. He applied to become a fur trader in 1833 and was assigned to the Mackenzie River district as a clerk in 1834. Campbell opened a post at Dease Lake in 1837.1)
Campbell was at Fort Halkett in 1839 when he received a letter announcing the new HBC's 10-year arrangement with the Russian American Co. for possession of the territory up to Cape Spenser. The Company took command of the fort at the mouth of the Stikine immediately. This made it unnecessary for Campbell to continue exploring in this direction. Campbell was then directed to explore the Peel and Colville regions in February 1840. Campbell left Fort Halkett at the end of May with a crew of 7, including 4 engaged men plus interpreters/guides Lapie, Kitza [Ketse] and Hoole. They reached Frances Lake on July 19, 1840. On this trip Campbell went as far as Finlayson Lake and, by climbing a high point, was able to identify, and then travel to, a river he called the Peel River to the west. They built Glenyon House on Frances Lake.2)
In the spring of 1841, Campbell went to Fort Simpson, from Halkett, and stayed there to the fall, in charge while Chief Factor Lewes was at Portage la Loche. A lack of men at Fort Halkett prevented the establishment of Fort Frances. In June 1842, Lewes sent Campbell a letter with instruction to build Fort Frances. During the winter of 1843, Campbell reported that some of his people were murdered by people from the north and there were conflicts between the Nahannis and local first nations. Campbell reports little trade in 1844 and 1845. However, trade was good in 1846/47 and flourishing in 1847/48.3)
To aid in his exploration of the Pelly River, Campbell built a post at Pelly Banks, at the headwaters of the Pelly River, in 1846. He explored the Pelly to the mouth at the Yukon River in 1843. He established Fort Selkirk at the Yukon and Pelly confluence in 1848.4) Campbell named the Yukon River the Lewes River, after the Chief Factor of the Hudson's Bay Co., John Lee Lewes.5) For many years, the Yukon River above the Pelly confluence was called the Lewes River.
Campbell’s Liard River supply route was unreliable and dangerous, and the post was not a success. Campbell and some men started down the Yukon River, leaving James Green Stewart in charge, and arrived at Fort Yukon on June 8, thus confirming that Fort Selkirk and Fort Yukon were on the same river. They returned to Fort Selkirk again on October 17, 1851. Campbell's men retrieved the first real outfit at Fort Selkirk from Lapierre's House in July 1852.6)
The Pelly Banks post was accidently burned in 1849 and was abandoned in 1850. Fort Frances was abandoned in 1851.7) In 1852, Fort Selkirk was ransacked by the coastal Tlingit traders angry at the HBC’s intrusion into their interior trade.8)
During the pillage of Fort Selkirk, Campbell had four men with him. He had returned from a trip to Fort Yukon in early August to get a cow. Mr. Stewart left on Campbell's arrival, with four men and some First Nation trappers to trade and he was expected to return at the end of August. The attack happened on August 21, 1852. Flett's and Lake's wives were working in the kitchen. Robert Campbell to James Anderson in November 1852 and accused Brough of deserting with them on August 11. Two hunters, Lapie and Peter, had arrived with their families at the post and precipitated the attack.9) In fact, the women were at Brough’s Bay where Mrs. Flett was giving birth to a baby son.
After the raid, Campbell travelled downriver to meet his second in command, Mr. Stewart, and the men returning from Fort Yukon. He met Stewart at the mouth of the White River and turned them back to Fort Yukon for the winter because there were no supplies at Fort Selkirk. Campbell then took a small canoe up the Pelly River and arrived at Fort Simpson on the 21st of October. After the river froze, he travelled overland to Crow Wing in Minnesota, and arrived there on March 13th. He reached London on April 18th but, despite his strenuous efforts at persuasion, did not receive permission to revive the Fort Selkirk post.10)
After returning from the Yukon, Campbell worked for the HBC as an administrator until his dismissal in 1871. After the HBC suddenly and unjustly fired him for sending furs out of the country without authorization during the Riel Rebellion of 1870, Campbell took up cattle ranching in Manitoba.11)