Our History

Pictured here is James Murray Yale, the fiery Scotsman after whom our school was named. Yale worked for the Hudson’s Bay Company from 1815 until his retirement in 1860. In 1817, he was taken prisoner during a dispute with the Northwest Company and his own which preceded the merger of the two companies. In 1828 Yale accompanied Governor Simpson on his inspection tour from York Factory to Fort Langley where he remained for thirty-one years. James Murray Yale was very active in the Fraser Valley opening trading posts and exploring new routes from the coast to the inland. Fort Yale in the Fraser Canyon was named after him and so, too, was the road on which this school is situated. Yale Highlanders as we were once called, but now Lions have good reason to be proud of their school and its heritage. We are indeed fortunate to bear the same name of such an honest, diligent, and courageous man.