The Oregon Treaty of 1846 limited the British presence on the west coast to the area north of the 49th parallel of latitude, with the exception of the southern tip of Vancouver Island. This event renewed the incentive to exploit the far northern fur trade. The search for access routes to the Yukon from the Mackenzie River had been carried out in the early 1840s. In 1846 twenty-seven-year-old Alexander Hunter Murray left Fort Garry with orders to establish a post on the Yukon River. Fort Yukon was located west of the unmarked border with Russian Alaska. This most isolated of the Hudson's Bay Company posts operated for twenty-two years before a correct determination of the boundary forced its abandonment.
The drawing depicts a June 1847, incident involving an attempt by Murray and a companion to ford the Bell River when it was in flood. Murray's companion was swept away in the attempt to cross, losing his musket, his bonnet and very nearly his life. Murray, shown here in mid-stream, crossed with great difficulty. An accompanying Indian, "not admiring this method", wisely refused to cross. The travellers continued on for the remainder of the day in wet clothing in freezing temperatures. Murray recorded in his journal: "None of us were in good humour." This was a minor event in the course of an individual's career but it is typical of the hazards and hardship of travel in the nine-teenth century.
