After a brief time with the
American Fur Company, Ogden joined the North West Company in 1809. His first post was at
Île-à-la-Crosse,
Saskatchewan, in 1810, and by 1814 he was in charge of a post at
Green Lake, Saskatchewan, south. Ogden had frequent run-ins with the rival HBC employees and engaged in physical violence on several occasions. In 1816, HBC clerks reported that Ogden killed a Native American who had traded with the Hudson's Bay Company. The Native American was "butchered in a most cruel manner", according to HBC officer James Bird. Although many in the North West Company viewed this as a necessary part of living in the Northwest, the HBC viewed Ogden as a dangerous man whose actions were deplorable, especially considering his background as the son of a judge. Ogden was charged with murder, and the North West Company moved him further west to attempt to avoid any further confrontations with the HBC. He served at different posts in modern-day Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia for the next several years. in Oregon As a way of ending the ongoing strife between the two companies, the HBC and the North West Company merged in 1821. Ogden's violent history placed the now larger HBC in a quandary. Some in the company management severely disliked and distrusted Ogden, but newly appointed governor
George Simpson pushed for his reinstatement, arguing that he had done no more than many others during the "fur-trade wars". Ogden was admitted to the reconfigured HBC with the rank of Chief Trader in 1823 and put in charge of
Spokane House. In November 1824, he was put in charge of the
Snake River Country (part of the HBC's
Columbia Department Expedition). Between 1824 and 1830, Ogden led a series of expeditions to explore and trap in the Snake River Country. One of the company's objectives was to bring as many furs from this area as possible to the HBC so as to create a "fur desert", which was intended to discourage inroads by American trappers and traders. The exploration trips included: • 1824–25: Ogden led a fur brigade that expanded HBC's influence along the Snake River east to
Montana's
Bitterroot River and south to the
Bear River in present-day Utah. During this trip, near modern
Mountain Green, Utah, 23 freemen, independent trappers outfitted by HBC, defected with about 700 beaver pelts to Americans operating in the area. • 1825–26: Traveling south from the
Columbia River to the
Deschutes River in Oregon, Ogden then turned east and traveled through the
Blue Mountains to the Snake River. • 1826–27: From
Walla Walla, in present-day Washington, an expedition explored the Deschutes River, following it to
Klamath Lake and an area near the upper Rogue River and Mount McLoughlin. • 1827-28 Ogden explored southern Idaho as far east as present day Idaho Falls. • 1828–29: Ogden explored the
Great Salt Lake and the
Weber River drainage, where the
Ogden River, and subsequently the current city of
Ogden, Utah, is named for him. He explored areas of the
Great Basin, finding and following the
Humboldt River, later named for German naturalist
Alexander von Humboldt, west to its dry sink in present-day Nevada. A year earlier, in 1827, American trapper and explorer
Jedediah Smith had become the first American to cross the Great Basin in 1827, traversing west to east from the Sierra Nevada near
Ebbetts Pass. Smith, however, missed
Humboldt Lake and the Humboldt River, and nearly died for lack of food and water. Ogden's easier route following the river eventually became part of the
California Trail. • 1829–30: Leaving
Fort Vancouver on 28 August 1829, Ogden proceeded to Walla Walla, then to the
Great Salt Lake, then southwest, probably reaching the
Gulf of California. He then went north through California, skirting the western foothills of the
Sierra Nevada in order to avoid contact with Mexican authorities. The party arrived at
Fort Nez Perce on 30 June and transferred to canoe-like Columbia boats. On 3 July, at
The Dalles, nine men plus the wife and two sons of one of the men were drowned when their boat was caught in a whirlpool; also lost were 300 beaver pelts and all papers from the trip, including Ogden's journal. Ogden and the other survivors reached Fort Vancouver on 6 July 1830. In 1830, Ogden was sent north to establish a new HBC post named
Fort Simpson near the mouth of the
Nass River in British Columbia. He also managed an outpost on the south coast of
Alaska. In 1834, he was promoted to
Chief Factor, HBC's highest field rank, spending 9 years at his new post at Fort St. James in the New Caledonia district of British Columbia, together from 1835 until 1844. In 1844, he took a one year leave of absence, spent predominantly in England. He returned to Lower Canada in 1845, whereupon after a accompanying clandestine survey trip from Lachine to the Columbia district, he arrived in Fort Vancouver and followed his orders to purchase Cape Disappointment for the Hudson's Bay Company. He administered Fort Vancouver in the late 1840s. There Ogden fought successfully against American fur competition and successfully negotiated with local native tribes, including the
Cayuse. In 1847, Ogden averted an
Indian war and successfully negotiated for the lives of 49 settlers taken as slaves by the Cayuse and
Umatilla Indians after the
Whitman massacre. ==Retirement and death==