AN ERROR CONCERNING FINLAY'S JOURNAL
By Marion O'Neil
Because of certain references in Bancroft to a Journal by James Finlay many students have been led astray. Diligent search has failed to reveal the journal or even letters of James Finlay in the Bancroft Library, nor have I learned of any being elsewhere. The trouble has been caused by an error in the title of the manuscript referred to. In Bancroft's History of the Northwest Coast, II. there are three erroneous citations in the footnotes to Finlay's Journal. In each case the name Finlay's Journal has been substituted for Fraser's First Journal. They are as follows:
Page 87, note 2. "Upon the bank of the stream, says Mr. Fraser nine years after, 'we found the old Barbue in the very identical spot he was found by Mr. Finlay in the summer of 1797.' Finlay's Journal, MS., 108."
Page 97, note 12, "Parsnip River, or south Branch, on some maps is called Peace River, while Finlay River is put down as a branch, whereas the fact is the reverse. Regarding these streams Fraser says: 'This river at its confluence with the Peace River is large, and appears to contain a large quantity of water, and the Indians say it is navigable a considerable way up, and that beaver, bear, and large animals of all kind are amazing numerous.Finlay's Journal, MS., 28-30 ."
Page 103- note 20, "There was a portage of a mile and a half at most from one of the lakes beyond Trout Lake into a fine navigable river, and no rapids, that flows into the Columbia.' Finlay's Journal, MS., 114."
The above passages are all exact quotations from Fraser's First Journal. In each one the page reference is correct for that manuscript.
The Finlay referred to was James Finlay,[1] son of the
- ↑ Bancroft, Northwest Coast, II, 87.
