Scots stamped their initial heritage in the Northwest as employees of the Hudson’s Bay Co. This London, England based company looked north for: 1) boat crews and 2) managers of their many outposts. The former, called “Orkney men” (even further north) and the latter “Scots.” Orkney men were hired under a short-term contract with the hope of returning home with a nest-egg. Managers (Scots) were treated a bit differently. Canadian management would visit Edinburgh each year and recruit a “class” of young managers. 
They’d travel together via ship (with training ongoing) finally ending up at Fort Winnipeg in central Canada. Their stay there would find locked doors on the hotel – none was allowed to leave to walk the streets and potentially escape south to the Land of the Free. For pioneer history, the Scots immigrated to the Americas for the same reasons as other Europeans: economic opportunity, religious freedom, over populations due to immunizations … the list is `long and includes “the White Plague,” the eviction of a populace for another Country’s love of sheep – the highland clearances evidenced by miles of stone buildings standing still today forlorn, windswept, and owned by English Lords. This writer’s children are a bit Scottish, their ancestor coming from the Isle of Eigg, a great-grandfather wished to mine for copper and gold, ending up in Mexico’s Grand Canyon and Santa Ana. Other Scots were forcefully put on boats to New Zealand, Canada, the US, Australia, South Africa, the West Indies, Argentina … Ireland (north) and elsewhere, just not Scotland. Having spent much time in Scotland, this writer wonders whose descendants did better. Sometimes one wins by losing.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottish_Americans
https://www.britannica.com/event/Highland-Clearances
https://theculturetrip.com/europe/united-kingdom/scotland/articles/the-story-behind-scotlands-massacre-cave
https://visitcoppercanyon.com/facts-about-mexico-copper-canyon/
http://www.plc215.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Scots.pdf
https://www.britannica.com/video/214850/Scotland-origins-who-are-the-Scottish-people-history-culture https://theculturetrip.com/europe/united-kingdom/scotland/articles/the-story-behind-scotlands-massacre-cave/
The starting point for young Scots for their trek to the West Coast began in:
Comments, content, questions appreciated; email to: bb@plc215.org
Copyright © 2024