Fort Simpson (Columbia Department)

Fort Simpson was a fur trading post established in 1831 by the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) near the mouth of the Nass River in present-day British Columbia, Canada. In 1834 it was moved to the Tsimpsean Peninsula, about halfway between the Nass River and the Skeena River, and was later referred to as Port Simpson or as the native name Lax Kw'alaams. The fort was part of the HBC's Columbia Department.

One of the primary reasons for the establishment of Fort Simpson, as well as Fort McLoughlin to the south, was to undermine the American dominance of the Maritime Fur Trade. By 1830 the higher prices paid for furs by American coastal traders had resulted in an indigenous fur trading system that diverted furs from the interior New Caledonia district of the HBC to the coast. Fort Simpson and Fort McLoughlin were built to intercept these furs before they could reach American traders, who had no permanent posts on the coast. The strategy was ultimately successful. By 1837 American competition was essentially over.

In 1829 George Simpson, HBC administrator, informed the Russian-American Company, that the HBC was planning to build a fort at the river's mouth, on the frontier between the two companies' territories. In July 1830 Aemilius Simpson visited the area, confirmed that furs from New Caledonia were being brought to the coast, and made plans for the fort's construction. Fever among Simpson's crew prevented construction from beginning right away. A second voyage, under Aemilius Simpson, Peter Skene Ogden, and John Work, left Fort Vancouver in March 1831 and began construction in April 1831.

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