James Murray Yale joined the Hudson's Bay Company in 1815 and participated in the
final years of the conflict with the North West Company. In 1821, Yale was transferred
to the
Columbia District, taking charge of
Fort Langley in 1833. To replace the declining revenue from furs at that fort, he encouraged the
export of new resources—crops and packed fish. He rose to rank of chief trader in
1844. In 1848, HBC Governor
Pelly recommended him to
Earl Grey for a commission as justice of the peace in the new colony of
Vancouver Island. That same year, as part of a transportation route that was later abandoned, the
company named a newly established post in the
Fraser Canyon after him. In 1851, he bought property on
Vancouver Island and retired eight years later to a farm in
Saanich.