In 1951 Borden received funding from Aluminum Company of Canada (Alcan), and the British Columbia Ministry of Education to undertake salvage archaeology at the Carrier Indian site.
The construction of the Kemano power reservoir resulted in imminent flooding of a large part of Carrier hunting territory in Tweedsmuir Park.
"[2][3] At the time of his death, however in 1978, in spite of his best intentions, all of the Marpole material was in storage and still required "full description, quantification and publication of the original data"[1] on which they were based.
Borden left the United States with his mother, when she was widowed taking her infant son to join her family in Germany.
He began working as assistant professor of German at the University of British Columbia in after teaching for a short period at Reed College in Portland.