John Work (c. 1792 – 22 December 1861) was a Chief Factor of the Hudson's Bay Company and head of one of the original founding families in Victoria, British Columbia.

His journals provide a detailed record of Pacific Northwest land features, native peoples, and the Hudson's Bay Company's fur trading business in the early 19th century.

His party reached a site known as Boat Encampment on the Columbia on 13 October, and proceeding down the river with the Hudson's Bay Company trading brigade that had been sent to meet them.

At that point, Ogden and Work traveled overland to their winter quarters at Spokane House in what in now eastern Washington state.

[1] During the 1824 trapping season, Work helped Finan McDonald extend the company's fur trade into the Flathead country of Montana.

In November 1824, Work joined an expedition led by Chief Trader James McMillan that explored the lower Fraser River looking for a site to establish a major trading post.

On the return trip, his party discovered the Cowlitz Portage, which became an important route between the Columbia River and Puget Sound.

[2] Work spent the 1825–26 trapping season trading furs in western Montana where he reopened Flathead House.

During the next year, Work travelled over 2,000 miles across Oregon into what is now eastern Idaho, western Montana, northwestern Utah, and along the Humboldt River in Nevada.

Two previous Hudson's Bay Company trapping expedition led by Ogden and Alexander Roderick McLeod had already been through the valley 1829 and 1830.

A few months later, McLoughlin was murdered and his powerful father blamed Work for transferring his son's only assistant away from Fort Stikine.

Work supported Douglas in the controversy surrounding the appointment of David Cameron as chief justice of Vancouver Island.

Work also continued his duties as Chief Factor of the Hudson's Bay Company, acting as a trustee for its Fur Trade Branch which purchased land for settlers who could not afford the required minimum 20-acre lots at £1 per acre.

Work remained both a Chief Factor for the Hudson's Bay Company and a member of the Legislative Council until his death in December 1861.

[1][2] In 1825, Governor Simpson suggested that Work marry the daughter of a Cayuse Indian chief, to secure good relations with the Native Americans living in along the Columbia River.

[2] Several of Work's sons-in-law were also well known Hudson's Bay Company employees, including Doctor William Fraser Tolmie, Roderick Finlayson, Edward Huggins, and James Allan Grahame.

[1] Work chronicled his trading expeditions in sixteen meticulously kept journals, covering the period from July 1823 to October 1835 plus one additional trip in 1851.

Although his journals are written as matter-of-fact business correspondence, they provide a detailed record of the Oregon Country in the early 19th century.

His journals have survived intact, making them among the oldest first-hand accounts of land features, native peoples, and the Hudson's Bay Company fur trading operations in the Pacific Northwest.