Fort Yale

 (1848-1849, 1864-1868) - A Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) trading post/fort first established by Ovid Allard in 1848 at the head of navigation on the Fraser River, in British Columbia. Named for James Murray Yale, Chief Factor of the Columbia District at Fort Langley. Abandoned in 1849 but reestablished in 1864 and abandoned in 1868.

History of Fort Yale
A Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) trading post/fort first established in 1848 at the head of navigation on the Fraser River. Fort Yale was built at the same time as Fort Hope (1) but further upriver and at the start of the very hazardous Frazer Canyon. Travel up the Frazer Canyon from Fort Yale by pack train proved too difficult and Fort Yale was abandoned in 1849 in favor of Fort Hope (1).

With the discovery of Cariboo gold fields and the construction of the Cariboo Road between Fort Yale and Barkerville in the 1860s, Fort Yale again became the place where goods arrived by steamboat and were moved overland on the Cariboo Road to the gold fields. The HBC reestablished their operation at Fort Yale not as a fur trading operation but as a commercial enterprise suppling goods for the people flocking to the region. It is estimated that 6.5 million dollars in gold came down the Cariboo Road and that the population at Fort Yale sometimes reached 15,000 people. The HBC operation closed circa 1868.

Current Status
No remains in Yale, British Columbia.

See Also:
 * Fort Hope
 * Hudson's Bay Company
 * Hudson's Bay Company Forts

Sources:
 * HBC Archives - Fort Yale

Links:
 * North American Forts - Fort Yale
 * Wikipedia - Yale, BC