James Murray Yale

Fraser River exploration by Yale and Sir George Simpson, his in-law

Yale was born in 1798 in Lachine, Quebec, a borough of the city of Montreal, to Theophilus Yale and Sarah Andrews of Wallingford, Connecticut, members of the Yale family.[3][4][5] The area was previously known as Lower Canada, and historically belonged to Nouvelle-France.[3] His cousin was sea Captain Theophilus Yale, and the Yales were a seafaring family.[6][7] His father was a tenant of the Seigneur of Argenteuil James Murray, and died when he was young, drowning in North River, Newfoundland.[8] His mother abandoned him and left for Scotland. He was named and raised by Col. James Murray, friend of North West fur trader Colin Robertson, who initiated him to the fur trade.[9]

In 1815, he joined the Hudson's Bay Company, and served first at Fort Wedderburn on Lake Athabasca. This post had just been built by John Clarke in an effort to secure a foothold for the HBC in Athabasca, the great stronghold of the North West Company. In April 1817, Yale was kidnapped by the men of the North West Company and taken to Tideè lake for five months. In 1821, he was moved to New Caledonia and put in charge of Fort Astoria, renamed Fort George in honor of King George III of Britain, until 1824. During his tenure there, he would narrowly escape death, as during his absence, the Fort was attacked, and his men, murdered by the Indians.[10]

"No, do not try to hurt the Sky-people; you can not kill them because they are supernatural. They come from the sky. There are as many of them as the stars. If you try to kill them, more will come and they will kill us all. You saw how they took fire into their stomachs and were not burned; you saw the thunder-stick. No, you must not do what you plan."[11]
- The entry in Fort Langley: Outpost of Empire, by Chief Whattlekainuma, a sub-chief of the Kwantlen First Nation (Halkomelem: qʼʷa:n̓ƛʼən̓), referring to the fur traders as Sky-people

In 1826, he is recorded as a correspondent of fur trader John Stuart, uncle of Lord Strathcona & Mount Royal of Knebworth House.[12] Yale then served at Fort Alexandria and Fort St. James. When he was unwell in 1827, he was sent to Fort Vancouver where medical care was provided to him.[3] Later in that year, Yale accompanied Gov. George Simpson on his exploratory trip down the Fraser River. At the end of the journey, Yale remained in Fort Langley, where he worked as a clerk under Chief James McMillan. McMillan was one of those who took part in the acquisition by the HBC of Fort Astoria and Fort Okanogan; forts that belonged to their competitor John Jacob Astor and his Pacific Fur Company.[13] Astor initial plan was to create a fur monopoly in the Columbia district by allying himself with the North West Company, who were qualified as "Lords of the fur trade" in Montreal, but they had refused the offer, as they were able to challenge the monopoly of the HBC by themselves.[14]

Fort Langley, British Columbia, main trading post of Yale's merchant business career

Yale then replaced Deputy Governor Archibald McDonald, husband of Princess Raven, the daughter of King Comcomly, a native Indian, as Chief trader on February 20, 1833. As a Chief trader, after the merger of the HBC and the Montreal based North West Company, he now had a share of the profits of the Hudson's Bay company during the monopoly years, which were distributed among the 25 Chief factors, the 28 Chief traders and the shareholders in London.[15] He achieved great success at Fort Langley, dealing in furs and pelts with the Indians, manufacturing wood barrels, and exporting cured salmons, which commanded high prices during the Crimean War of Napoleon III.[16]

During his tenure, Yale would be saved by his postmaster from another murder attempt on his life, this time, by Tzouhalem, the chief of the Cowichan tribes.[17] Later, an accident would cause the Fort to burn down. The Fort would be rebuilt thereafter by Yale and his men with the help of Sir James Douglas. It became one of the largest forts ever built by the Hudson's Bay Company and Yale became its commander.[18] While Yale was building his new fort, Sir George Simpson was at Hamburg, Germany, discussing with Baron Ferdinand von Wrangel, Governor of Russian America and Minister of the Navy. The Baron was the representative of the Russian-American Company, a fur trading enterprise chartered by Tsar Paul I of Russia, son of Catherine the Great.

The discussions evolved into an agreement for the HBC, and they obainted a lease for a part of Alaska, which belonged to Russia at the time. The aim of that lease was to block the American fur traders from dealing with the Russian trading posts in Alaskan territory and have them deal with the Hudson's Bay Company instead, thus increasing the trade volume at Fort Langley for Yale.[19] They started making caviar, as the recipe for making this delicacy was part of the deal obtained from Russia. The salmon trade would eventually become a world-trade industry for the Fort and the area, developed by him and chief trader Archibald McDonald.[20]

Disputes with the chief factor of Fort Vancouver, John McLoughlin, a French-Canadian, were frequent, as Fort Langley was second only in importance after his Fort, and resources were scarce. Eventually, the fur returns were on the decline and the shareholders in London were alerted, as a new technology made its apparition, the steamer Beaver. Steamships allowed for longer distance travel and lowered the need for a Fort to store the merchandise. It became in itself a sort of mobile trading post rather than a fixed infrastructure, thus accelerating the speed of trade.[21] They suffered even more with the erection of Fort Victoria (British Columbia) in 1843, which would displace them as one of the main headquarters of the HBC. Governor Simpson didn't see Fort Langley suitable enough for a main depot, but acknowledged the impact it had on blocking the American fur traders from Boston and taking their market shares, as they used to control much of the Maritime fur trade.[22] For the first ten years, the Fort produced 14,651 beaver skins, including 10,330 who were large prime pelts.

Fort Yale, gold rush era Fort that evolved into the city of Yale

Otter steamship, successor of the Beaver steamship, used during the gold rush era near Fort Langley, and changed the economics of the fur trade

During the gold rush era, gold reserves were found near the area of Fort Langley, of which Yale was the commander.[23] He sent his associate Allard to build a new fort that he named Fort Yale. A wagon road was built named Old Yale Road and was used to move men and supplies to the gold mines. The city of Yale, British Columbia, became one of the biggest city in the region west of Chicago and all the way to the north of San Francisco, due to its positioning.[24] They initially didn't want to participate in the gold rush as they anticipated future conflicts and wars with the Indians.[25]

With unwelcomed foreigners and speculators coming in for the gold rush, the relationships established with the Indians and the supply chains were seriously disturbed.[26] Thousands came from San Francisco after hearing the story that the HBC had shipped away 110 pounds of gold. With the prospect of wealth, the population of the United States territory of Washington and Oregon, as well as Europeans and other Indians tribes, were excited and came by all means of travel. The HBC would start using the Beaver steamship and the Otter steamship to serve the gold industry.[27]

With the arrival of the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush, the Fraser Canyon War and the McGowan War started. It didn't take long for a white woman to be captured and held prisoner by the Indians. Yale sent 45 men with muskets and revolvers to rescue her.[28] Royal Engineers troops of the British Army were sent, and a need for a new colony with a better legal structure was felt by the HBC and others. This would lead to the creation of British Columbia. The act of creation was made at Fort Langley, who would stay, for a time, the provisional colonial capital of the Royal colony of British Columbia.[29]

Chief factor Douglas would announce the formation of the colony to the Secretary of State, Lord Edward Bulwer Lytton, in company of Admiral Robert Lambert Baynes, Chief Justice David Cameron, and Judge Matthew Baillie Begbie. Many administrative positions were created to better handle the gold rush and the monopoly agreement with the Hudson's Bay Company was revoked.[30] Having worked so hard at building the trading operations at Fort Langley for the last 30 years, and seeing the HBC being displaced by the British, Yale decided he had enough and took his retirement.

He returned for a brief time to Montreal, Canada, the area where he was born. He then later came back to Vancouver Island and bought land near his old friends of the HBC in Victoria, British Columbia, and resided there thereafter. He never returned to Fort Langley.[31] In its heyday, the fort consisted of assistant traders, blacksmiths, boat builders, baril makers, carpenters, coopers, interpreters, laborers, and middlemen.[32]

Provincial Bank of Canada, in Old Montreal, 1910, now National Bank of Canada, was in Place d'Armes at Aldred Building's site

The horse racetrack of Lorimier Park, Plateau Mont-Royal, Montreal, 1926, named after François de Lorimier, member of the French-Canadian nobility

Yale married a local Kwantlen (Halkomelem: qʼʷa:n̓ƛʼən̓) Princess named Quaitlin, daughter of the Chief of Kwantlen Nation.[33][34] He was also later married to two other women. He had three daughters.

• Eliza Yale (1829-1865), married Henry Newsham Peers, Chief trader for the HBC, and Captain during the American Indian Wars for Issac Stevens, 1st Governor of Washington.[35]
• Aurelia Yale (1839-1931), married John D. Manson, son of Donald Manson, Chief factor for the HBC, and Félicité Lucier, daughter of fur trader Étienne Lucier, an early founder of Fort Astoria for John Jacob Astor.[36]
• Isabella Yale (1840-1927), married Chief trader George Stewart Simpson, son of Sir George Simpson, the Scottish Canadian Governor of the Hudson's Bay Company and Prince Rupert's Land.[3][37][38]

Sir George Simpson was the most important man in the North American fur trade,[39] and was a board director and shareholder of Canada’s first bank, the Bank of Montreal, as well as of the Bank of British North America, Montreal's first railroad named the Montreal and Lachine Railroad, the Champlain and St. Lawrence Railroad, the St. Lawrence and Atlantic Railroad, the Grand Trunk Railway, and the Montreal Ocean Steamship Company of Sir Hugh Allan of Ravenscrag.[40][41][42][43]

Simpson was also a member of the Beaver Club, and did business with Canada's richest man Sir Hugh Allan, Sir John Rose, Sir Alexander Mackenzie, President David Torrance, minister Luther H. Holton, Senator George Crawford, Senator Thomas Ryan, banker John Redpath, and bankers John Molson and William Molson.[44][45][46] At his death in 1860, he left an estate worth over £100,000, which in relation to GDP, amounted to half a billion dollars in 2023 Canadian money, or the equivalent building cost of an estate like Harlaxton Manor in England.[47][48][49]

Members

Other members of the Yale family were merchants-entrepreneurs as well, such as Capt. Elihu Yale (1747), his uncle, a manufacturer of bayonets and scythes during the American Revolutionary War, and Moses Yale Beach, his cousin, a media magnate and one of the richest men in New York.[50] His brother, Andrew Yale, was a manufacturer of ships and barges in Montreal, and did business with Canadian entrepreneur Luther Hamilton Holton, and another brother, Miles Yale, owned tanneries.[51][52][53] Andrew's son was Postmaster, and number of his grandchildren lived in Outremont, Montreal, with one cofounding a Quebec mining company with 150,000$ in capital.[54][55] James Murray Yale's nephew, George H. Yale (1820–1892) of Montreal, was Justice of the Peace, major commander, mayor of Louiseville, leather manufacturer, owner of Yaletown village, saw mills and tanneries, with his three brothers under Yale, Laurent & Company.[56][57] Another nephew, Edward J. Yale, was a jewelry manufacturer and inventor under Yale Jewelry Co. in Rhode Island and Chicago, in partnership with banker Frederick A. Ballou of the Rhode Island Hospital Trust.[58][59][60]

Hotel de Ville, Village de Lorimier, Mount Royal Avenue, 1901, now Plateau-Mont-Royal

His grandnephew, Denis Robert Arthur Yale, was magistrate of Côte-des-Neiges in Montreal, a landowner in Mount Royal (Mount-Royal Ward), now Outremont, and one of the founding & largest shareholders of the Provincial Bank of Canada, now the National Bank of Canada.[61][62]

Notable shareholders in the charter of 1900 included Senator Sir Alexandre Lacoste, Outremont founder Louis Beaubien, Judge Louis-Philippe Pelletier, Governors Narcisse Pérodeau and Louis-Amable Jetté, and Montreal Mayors and Senators Sir William H. Hingston, Charles Wilson and Alphonse Desjardins.[63][64] A notable board member of the bank was Oscar Dufresne, proprietor with his brother Marius of Chateau Dufresne in Montreal.[65]

Arthur Yale was also Secretary-Treasurer and cofounder of Plateau-Mont-Royal (Lorimier and old Rosemont), and one of its landowners.[66][67][68][69][70][71] He owned the Yale Islands in Saint-Eustache, Quebec on Rivière des Mille Îles, with its Moulin à eau de la Dalle, and would be inherited by his daughter Claire.[72] One of the Yale Islands was on the market in 2015 for 15 million dollars.[73]

His cousin, Mary Victoria Yale (1847), married to Major Commander Francois Xavier Lambert, a merchant-tanner, and one of their son became lieutenant and a daughter married to Mayor Louis A. Fortier, a Justice of the Peace, Physician and Surgeon from Mcgill University.[74][75] On many occasions, they integrated themselves through marriages with French Canadian families.[76] James was also a third cousin of Linus Yale Sr. and Linus Yale Jr. of the Yale Lock Company, and a distant cousin of artist James Carroll Beckwith, president of the Fencers Club of New York and member of the Social Register.[77][78]

Vancouver Skyline - Yaletown

When the city of Yale (British Columbia) was founded in 1848, it was named after James Murray Yale. First as Fort Yale, then as Yale, which eventually gave its name to the Yaletown district of Downtown Vancouver.[79]

James was a distant cousin of Gov. Elihu Yale, founder and benefactor of Yale University, being a descendant of his uncle, Thomas Yale, stepson of Gov. Theophilus Eaton.[80] Capt. Thomas Yale was a merchant and landowner, one of the founders of New Haven Colony, Connecticut, and the American ancestor of the Yale family.[81][82] His uncle was Nathaniel Eaton, first head of Harvard, and his half-brother was Samuel Eaton, one of the seven founders of the Harvard Corporation, now the oldest corporation in America.

Yale was known as “Little Yale” because of his short stature about which he was sensitive. Chief Factor Sir James Douglas, Governor of the Colony of British Columbia, his superior in the HBC, a big man, took a quiet delight in standing near Yale and observing his discomfiture. In his famous “Character Book”, Governor Simpson devoted an entry to Yale:

“A sharp active well conducted very little man but full of fire with the courage of a Lion. Deficient in Education, but has a good deal of address & Management with Indians and notwithstanding his diminutive size is more feared and respected than some of our 6 feet men.”[3]“
--The entry in the Dictionary of Canadian Biography, Volume X

• Biography at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online
• Fort Astoria 1792-1845 (Early Exploration, Fur Trade, Missionaries, and Settlement)