John Dunn 1800-
John Dunn was an English trader who spent eight formative years working for the Hudson's Bay Company during the 1830s, stationed at pivotal Pacific Northwest outposts like Fort Vancouver and Fort George. During his time in the Columbia District, he engaged extensively in the regional fur trade while closely observing the natural resources, commercial operations, and Native American cultures of present-day Oregon and Washington. Upon returning to Britain, he leveraged his firsthand experiences to publish the widely read 1844 book History of the Oregon Territory and British North-American Fur Trade. His detailed historical accounts provided a rare glimpse into the region's early colonial era while forcefully defending British territorial claims against encroaching American interests during the height of the Oregon boundary dispute.
Former HBC Clerk posted at Fort Vancouver
Biographical Overview
- Lived from 1800 to
- Born: Jan 1, 1800, Ireland
- Died: , England
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Having been articled to the Hudson's Bay Company, I left my father's home in London, in their ship, the Ganymede, for their settlements on the Pacific. It is needless for me to give any account of our outward voyage (though I met with some strange adventures) to the Sandwich Islands — at which we stopped for a short time ; and thence to the Columbia river. Having arrived at the western head-quarters of the Company — Fort Vancouver ; on the northern shore of the river, ninety miles from its mouth— I was placed in the fort, in the situation of assistant store-keeper. After remaining in the fort nearly a year, I was commissioned to proceed northward, in the company's ships, on trading and exploring expeditions ; threading, in our various courses, the whole of the vast labyrinth of gulphs, sounds, straits, bays, and inlets, that interlace the whole of the Pacific fiuore, for many hundred miles inland, and along many degrees of latitude
Viii, 359 P. : Ill., Map
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Last updated: 2026-09-30