James MCMILLAN (died 1858) fur trader, was born in Scotland, and entered the service of the N.W.C. prior to 1804, when he appears as a clerk at Fort des Prairies.  With David Thompson, he was one of the pioneers of the fur trade on the Columbia. Ross Cox met him on the Spokane River in 1813.  In 1821 he became a chief trader of the H.B.C.; and in 1827 he was promoted to the rank of chief factor.  He explored the lower part of the Fraser River in 1824, and he built Fort Langley at the mouth of the Fraser in 1827.  He left the Columbia department in 1829; and from 1830-34 he was placed in charge of the experimental farm at the Red River Settlement.  He was granted furlough in 1837, and he retired from the Company's service on 1839.  He died in 1858.

source: The Macmillan Dictionary of Canadian Biographies, edited by W. Stewart Wallace, third edition.

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