Title and statement of responsibility area
Title proper
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- textual record
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Edition area
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Class of material specific details area
Statement of scale (cartographic)
Statement of projection (cartographic)
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Issuing jurisdiction and denomination (philatelic)
Dates of creation area
Date(s)
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1823-1864, 1931 (Creation)
Physical description area
Physical description
Publisher's series area
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Archival description area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Peter Skene Ogden (also spelled Skeene, Skeen and Skein) was born in Quebec in 1790, the son of Isaac Ogden and Sarah Hanson. As a young man, he was employed for a brief time with Montreal's American Fur Company before joining the North West Company as an apprentice clerk in 1809. By 1814, Ogden was in charge of a trading post about 100 miles south of Ile-a-la-Crosse, Saskatchewan. While at this post, Ogden reportedly forced the fort clerk to surrender a local Indigenous man to him, whereupon the man was "butchered in a most cruel manner."
Ogden was transferred to the Columbia Department in 1818 following an indictment for murder in Lower Canada. While in the Columbia District, he served at Fort Georgia (Astoria, Oregon), Spokane House (Spokane, Washington) and Thompson's River Post (Kamloops, BC).
In 1824, Ogden was appointed Chief Trader and was posted to Spokane House. During this time, Ogden traveled through much of what is now present-day Oregon, Idaho, California, Nevada, Utah, and Wyoming. Between 1824 and 1830, Ogden led several expeditions through the area. In 1831, he was transferred north with the goal of establishing a new post, which was to be first named Fort Nass and later became known as Fort Simpson. Ogden was promoted to Chief Factor in 1835 and the same year reached his new headquarters of Fort St James on Stuart Lake.
Ogden subsequently served on the board of management for the Columbia District, with McLoughlin and James Douglas. Following McLoughlin's retirement in 1846, Ogden and Douglas, together with John Work, oversaw the Columbia district. Ogden ended his career at Fort Vancouver, and died in Oregon City, Oregon in 1854. Ogden had two "country marriages"; once to a Cree woman in Saskatchewan and secondly to Julia Rivet, a Spokane woman, and had a total of 8 children.
Name of creator
Biographical history
Custodial history
The custodial history of these records is unknown, although it is possible that some of the material originally formed part of the collection of Thompson Coit Elliott. Elliott was the president of the Inland Empire Historical Society and in 1910, he wrote an article on Ogden quoting the letter found in file E/A/Og24. Elliott died in 1943 and it is possible that some of the records came into Archives custody at that time.
See lower-level descriptions for details.
Scope and content
Notes area
Physical condition
Immediate source of acquisition
Arrangement
Arrangement is somewhat artificial. The records appear to have been collected over time and it is unclear if some files (for example A/B/Og 2.9 - Miscellaneous files relating to the Ogden estate) were created by Archives staff from loose materials.
The fonds has been divided into two series. The first contains records relating to or created by Peter Skene Ogden (MS-3388), and the second consists of records created by other members of Ogden's family (MS-3389).