While searching for an accessible route to transport furs to the Pacific, Europeans began exploring the B.C. Interior. In 1811 Scottish trader and explorer David Stuart of the Pacific Fur Company sailed to the junction of the Columbia and Okanagan rivers and built Fort Okanagan. He then travelled north to Thompson River and in so doing, established the Okanagan Valley trail that united the Upper Fraser and Lower Columbia sections. By 1824 the trail was dominated by the activities of the Hudson's Bay Company which provided fur caravans along the lake hills until 1847. Between orchards and vineyards remnants of the trail remain for historical hikes.
The first permanent valley settlements were established in 1840 by Father Charles Pandosy of the Oblates of Mary. Missionary camps were located at the head of Okanagan Lake and near what is now Kelowna. The valley population grew with the discovery of gold on the Fraser River in 1858 and in the Cariboo region in 1861. Both the Cariboo Road (now Hwy 97) and the Dewdney Trail (now Hwy 3) were built as a result. This opening up of the B.C. Interior attracted 150 Overlanders from Ontario in 1862, and continued growth came with the establishment of Canadian Pacific Railway services by the 1890s.
The Okanagan boasts an extremely diverse terrain. You can scan a panorama that melts from dry desert to lush basins, or graduates from low grasslands to upper forest hills to less majestic mountains that accentuate their ice-capped elders far in the distance.
Although in a dry belt, the Okanagan's natural vegetation is divided into two general categories. North Okanagan is dominated by a "dry/rainshadow forest" characterized by sage bush, antelope bush (also called greasewood), bunchgrass and scattered ponderosa pines. It is a green and fertile region with a much wetter climate than the rest of the valley.
Southern Okanagan has near desert-like conditions which produce a more arid but unique vegetation, unlike any other in Canada. Here, the deep valley becomes grassland - too dry for tree growth without irrigation. Sagebrush shrubs, cheatgrass, poison ivy and sumac are scattered with beautifully coloured prickly pear cactus, Okanagan sunflower and bitter root.
The region's wildlife is also unique. In the winter, hoofed animals such as mule deer and bighorn sheep migrate down from the mountains into the warmer valleys. White-tailed deer, cottontails, jackrabbits, badgers and muskrats are seen throughout the seasons.
In 1775 Boone and 30 other woodsmen were hired to improve the trails between the Carolinas and the west. The resulting route reached into the heart of Kentucky and became known as the "Wilderness Road." That same year Boone built a fort and village called Booneborough in Kentucky, and moved his family over the Wilderness Trail to their new home.
The Logging Industry vs. The Old Growth Forests of the Pacific Northwest and the Northern Spotted Owl.
The first settlement in Lumberport, West Virginia, was in 1770 by Major Benjamin Robinson. He bought some land from the Indians but later got a large sum of land from the government as payment for his services in the Revolutionary War. In 1775, Captain Thomas Harbert, who served under Benjamin Robinson, came to the Lumberport area and built a blockhouse to serve as a place of refuge for settlers.
He mentions a “brilliant mosaic of wildflowers, mosses and lichens that hugged the tundra” (paragraph 2). As these words roll off this tongue, a beautiful landscape rolls into the minds of Americans. Furthermore, President Carter details “As the never-setting sun circled above the horizon, we watched muskox. lumber along braided rivers that meander toward the Beaufort Sea.” (paragraph 2).
Fur trading started between the Europeans along with the Aboriginals when the most valuable beaver pelts was a substituted for metal and clothing goods such as iron knives and axis, copper kettles, blankets and trinkets. The beaver pelts were well desired by the Europeans for the reason that using this fur for headgear provided an elegant way to keep dry. However these pelts were for fashion, as men and women could be instantly noted within the social hierarchy by according to their beaver hats. It was so valuable that the sand on the floor was filtered to save every hair that has fallen off. For the Europeans, captivating advantages of the rich furs from the Indians in the New World was a major factor in generating handsome profits, and there is no other pelt exchanging business enterprise like the Hudson's Bay Company. It is the oldest venture of Canada and it inspired many by its domination in the fur trading industry during its early years. They equipped their own armies, minted its own coins and even issued its own medals. The company had controlled fully one-third of present-day Canadian territory and were thought by many as a kingdom by itself in the fur industry. They had trading posts from the very north Arctic Ocean to Hawaii and as far south as San Francisco. HBC's revenue didn't generate simply from this one way trade in furs to Europe; it also consists of large amounts of European goods to North America. These goods incorporated many other products that local people cannot construct such as gunpowder, bullets, weapons, tobacco, kettles, pots, beads, fishing hooks, needles, scissors, and so much more. The Hudson's Bay Company showed a great measure of success since its formation, but it didn't come without s...
By 1857 a concord coach was able to complete the fifty-mile run from Portland to Salem in a single day (Schwantes, 183). California Stage Company was one of the largest organizations of its kind in the United States, established direct and regular service between Portland and Sacramento in 1860 (Schwantes, 183). Wells, Fargo and Company of San Francisco utilized a far-flung network of stagecoach and freight lines in the 1860s and 1870s to serve mining regions in the interior Northwest (Schwantes, 183). Ben Holladay, the stagecoach king, laid the foundation for his transportation empire in 1862 when he gained control of stagecoach and freight wagon lines that extended from Salt Lake City to the booming mining camps and supply center of Boise City, Walla Walla, and Virginia City, Montana. Holladay sold h...
In 1790 at the age 14 Fraser moved to Montreal where he interned for his highly ranked uncles at the North West Company. From the years 1792 to 1805 Simon showed his loyalty to the company by working in the Athabasca Department. At the age of 24 Fraser was full partner with the North West Company, and was in charge of all the west of Rockies operations. All of Fraser efforts and pursuits was one of the reason Canada got the 49th parallel after the World War. Fraser established a majority of what is now known as British Columbia. In 1803 Fraser began travelling the Peace River creating the Rocky Mountain Trading Post. Many problems occurred when Fraser was exploring British Columbia, such as the delay of founding Fort George (Prince George). Simon was genuine man who made sure to be on good terms with the Aboriginals, he adapted friendly relationships with all the tribes he came across. Fraser always made sure the Tribes he met were sending positive messages downstream upon his arrival, letting the next tribe know he came with good intentions. For the most part this tactic worked out, however Fraser stumbled on some problems when encountering the Musqueem people, there ...
Curtis, Paul D., and Kristi L. Sullivan. "White-Tailed Deer." Ccontario.org. Cornell University, 2001. Web. 18 Jan. 2014.
As you already know the amount of different plant species in the tundra is very few. Also their growth level is low, “with most of the biomass concentrated in the roots. To add to the many difficulties the growing season isn’t very long its self. The plants are better off “to reproduce vegetative by division and budding than sexually by flower pollination”. The main plant life in that area is cotton grass, sedge, and dwarf heath also including mosses and lichens.
Vegetation in the Hudson Plains mostly follows latitude patterns, because of the flat nature of the land. The Hudson Plains are a merge of boreal forest and tundra. Trees are few and far between, denser in the southern, wetter area of the ecozone. In this wetter area, the variety of plants includes: tussocks of sedge, cottongrass, sphagnum moss, dwarf birch, willow shrubs, white spruce, black spruce, larch, balsam, poplar, tamarack, and Jack Pine. In the drier area, vegetation is shrubby and low-lying. It includes Lapland rosebay, crowberry, blueberry, cloudberry, reindeer moss, caribou lichen, and herbs such as arctic aven, purple saxifrage, prickly saxifrage, and lousewort.
The Appalachian Trail has much unique history. Benton MacKaye is known as the founder of the trail (“Appalachian”). Friends encouraged MacKaye to write an article putting the idea in place (Fisher 5). MacKaye had many supporters that organized the Appalachian Trail Conference, where they laid out more specific plans for the trail (Appalachian). Benton MacKaye is not the only person who is credited for the Appalachian Trail. Raymond Torrey rallied the hiking community and negotiated the trail to consist of public and private land (Kates). The building of the trail was done by mostly volunteers who worked on it from 1921 to 1937 (Kates). The first section of the trail opened in October 1923 in New York (“Appalachian”). It is hard to imagine the expansion of the Appalachian Trail was no more than an idea.
Over the summer of 1827, Jedediah Smith’s men camped near here, if not on this spot. Impressed by the climate and bountiful wildlife, Smith’s party convinced the Hudson’s Bay Company trappers in the Oregon Country to start trapping farther south each year. From 1832 to 1845, the French Canadian trappers made their seasonal headquarters at what they called Castoria [French Camp] about fifteen miles...
They had known for some time that Canada was busy constructing a colonists highway from Lake Superior to the Red River. The situation became tense surveyors were sent into the flow of settlers, and it was considered a wise move to have the surveying well under way before settlement began in earnest. It was decided to use a system or land survey similar to that used in the western part of the United States. Townships were to be divided into thirty-six sections, each containing one square mile or 640 acres. The sections were then to be divided into, the quarter-section was thought to be enough land for each family settling in the North West.
The author provides information describing the deer population in parts of New Jersey; yet, he does not include any data regarding the population in the rest of the United States, nor does he include any sources of where this information was obtained. A reader may be more
Nigh, Gordon D., Ying, Cheng C. & Qian, Hong. (2004, October). Climate and Productivity of Major Conifer Species in the Interior of British Columbia, Canada. Forest Science 50(5), 659.