Donald McLean (fur trader)

Donald McLean (1805 – July 17, 1864), also known as Samadlin, a First Nations adaptation of Sieur McLean, was a Scottish fur trader and explorer for the Hudson's Bay Company and who later became a cattle rancher near Cache Creek in British Columbia's Thompson Country . McLean was the last casualty of the Chilcotin War of 1864 and the father of outlaw and renegade Allan McLean, leader of the "Wild McLean Boys" gang.

McLean was born in 1805 in Tobermory, Isle of Mull, Scotland to Christina and Alexander McLean. In 1812 Donald and his family left Scotland to join Selkirk's Red River Settlement, in what became Manitoba, Canada. There they struggled to survive in an inhospitable land surrounded by conflict (between the HBC, NWC, fur traders and native factions). Alexander McLean was killed at the Battle of Seven Oaks on June 19, 1816 and what remained of the original settler's disbanded. Donald, his siblings and his mother returned to Scotland.

He joined the Hudson's Bay Company in 1833 as an apprentice clerk in the company's Western Department. In 1835 he was with expeditions to the Snake River country west of the Rockies led by Thomas McKay and John McLeod. He was assigned to Fort Colville, under Chief Trader Archibald McDonald in 1839, and in 1840 was transferred to Flathead Post. Two years later, he was sent to the New Caledonia Fur District in now north-central British Columbia, and was, at different times, in charge of Forts Chilcotin, Babine, and McLeod. He also worked at Fort Alexandria under Donald Manson.

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