Tete Jaune

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Tête Jaune († 1827; also Pierre Bostonais , Pierre Hastination and English Yellow Head ) was a trapper and scout of the Métis people who lived in what is now Canada in the early 19th century . Several places, areas and routes are named after him, including the Yellowhead Pass , the Yellowhead Highway and the town of Tête Jaune Cache .

Life

Pierre Bostonais had light hair, which is why the French called him Tête Jaune ( German for  'yellow head' ). Like so many of his tribe, he came west from Quebec in the 1800s to work for fur trading companies. These were in English hands, hence the English translation of his name Yellow Head .

The Métis settled after their employment contracts in the mountainous country between Hudson Hope and the Fort George area near Jasper and lived off the hunt and occasional employment as travel companions for the North West Company and the Hudson's Bay Company . Tête Jaune preferred to work for the Hudson's Bay Company. The little written information that is still available today comes from correspondence and business reports of this trading company. The report from 1819 tells of an expedition led by Tête Jaune. The expedition started at the trading house St. Mary's House at the confluence of the Smoky River and the Peace River near the present-day Peace River , followed the Smoky River up to Mount Robson and then down the Fraser River to the present-day town of Prince George , to join to trade with the Indians living there.

The reports indicate that Tête Jaune made this trade trip several times for the Hudson's Bay Company in the following years and found the pass through the Rocky Mountains. The pass was first mentioned in the Hudson's Bay reports in 1826, but it is likely that Tête Jaune found it a few years earlier. In 1827, the Beaver Indians who lived on the British Columbia side of the mountains killed Tête Jaune, his brother Baptiste, their wives and children.

literature

personal data
SURNAME Tete Jaune
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Pierre Bostonais; Pierre Hastination; Yellowhead
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Canadian trapper from the Métis people
DATE OF BIRTH 18th century
DATE OF DEATH 1827