Pioneer Trader. At age 16, he became an apprentice clerk for McTavish, Frobisher and Company and was posted a trader at Fort Augustus Edmonton, Canada, in 1803. From there he was to serve either at the fort or travel to the nearby outposts, taking goods and hiring trappers to acquire furs. By 1820, his service in the Saskatchewan River department resulted in the coalition of the Hudson’s Bay Company and he became chief trader. In an attempt to counteract the American threat to the company’s trade with the Plains tribes Indians of 1882, he was in the command of the Bow River expedition, which explored along the Red Deer and Bow Rivers for more fur resources. For the next 30 years, he would manage the many responsibilities of trade for the Saskatchewan district. In addition to its fur returns, he traded for farm supplies, buffalo meat, wheat, barley, hay, and potatoes. Because of his success, the Council of the Northern Department, Rowand was promoted Chief Factor in 1826 and was named a councilor of Rupert’s Land in 1839. In 1841, Rowand accompanied his close friend Governor Simpson on part of his trip around the world. Together they pioneered a shorter, more southerly route across the Rockies via the Bow River and went north as far as Fort Stikine Alaska, to explore rivers for steamship lines. Knowing he was to be replaced in the spring of 1854, he decided to go to Montreal and while enroot he died suddenly of a stoke at Fort Pitt, Canada.
Pioneer Trader. At age 16, he became an apprentice clerk for McTavish, Frobisher and Company and was posted a trader at Fort Augustus Edmonton, Canada, in 1803. From there he was to serve either at the fort or travel to the nearby outposts, taking goods and hiring trappers to acquire furs. By 1820, his service in the Saskatchewan River department resulted in the coalition of the Hudson’s Bay Company and he became chief trader. In an attempt to counteract the American threat to the company’s trade with the Plains tribes Indians of 1882, he was in the command of the Bow River expedition, which explored along the Red Deer and Bow Rivers for more fur resources. For the next 30 years, he would manage the many responsibilities of trade for the Saskatchewan district. In addition to its fur returns, he traded for farm supplies, buffalo meat, wheat, barley, hay, and potatoes. Because of his success, the Council of the Northern Department, Rowand was promoted Chief Factor in 1826 and was named a councilor of Rupert’s Land in 1839. In 1841, Rowand accompanied his close friend Governor Simpson on part of his trip around the world. Together they pioneered a shorter, more southerly route across the Rockies via the Bow River and went north as far as Fort Stikine Alaska, to explore rivers for steamship lines. Knowing he was to be replaced in the spring of 1854, he decided to go to Montreal and while enroot he died suddenly of a stoke at Fort Pitt, Canada.
Bio by: John "J-Cat" Griffith
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