James McMillan (fur trader)

With his parents and siblings, he emigrated from Scotland to British North America in 1802, and settled with them initially in what became Glengarry County, Ontario.

[1] Ten days later, Simpson assigned McMillan with commanding an expedition to survey the mouth of the Fraser River and assess it for navigability, settlement potential and agricultural suitability.

[3] He led an exploration party of 40 men from Fort George to Puget Sound and on to Mud Bay, just east of present-day Point Roberts.

After leaving Fort Vancouver, McMillan, his 25-man party and two small boats arrived at Port Orchard on Puget Sound on July 4.

There they camped, awaiting the newly acquired HBC sailing vessel the Cadboro, loaded with horses and supplies, which had departed Fort Vancouver on June 24 to rendezvous with McMillan's party via the open Pacific Ocean.

[3] Unfortunately, the Cadboro was unable to weigh anchor close enough to shore to safely unload cargo at the site McMillan had preferred to establish the Fort.

His party having been pinned in by ice at the mouth of the Fraser River, and apparently robbed and threatened by the Musqueam, Mackenzie dispatched a sympathetic Kwantlen to convey a distress message to McMillan at Fort Langley.

Rumour soon reached McMillan that Mackenzie's party had been massacred on the shores of Puget Sound en route back to the Columbia River, which later proved true.

He also fathered at least four North American children stemming from relations with native women from the Columbia Region, Saskatchewan and Fort George.