"Deputy Governor George Simpson, at the head of the affairs of the Hudson's Bay Company in British North America for nearly 40 years, was a very forceful and thorough man. He had been chosen to the position at the time of the coalition with the Northwest Company in1821... This was the occasion for the presence of Gov. Simpson at Ft. George at the mouth of the Columbia river in November, 1824; along with Dr. McLoughlin and others he had just arrived from across the mountains."