Campbell, Robert, 1808–94, Canadian fur trader and explorer, b. Scotland. Employed as a young man by the Hudson's Bay Company, he was sent in 1834 to the Mackenzie River region, where he remained until 1852. He discovered the Pelly River in 1840, descending it in 1843 to its confluence with the Lewes River to form the Yukon. Here he established Fort Selkirk in 1848. Later (1850–51) he followed the Yukon to its junction with the Porcupine River at Fort Yukon. He worked as a trader for Hudson's Bay until 1871, when he was discharged, and spent his last years as a rancher in Manitoba. He wrote The Discovery and Exploration of the Pelly River (1883).
See C. Wilson, Campbell of the Yukon (1970).
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