n addition to projects within Scotland, Clan Donald Foundation is committed to supporting other worthy initiatives among the Scottish diaspora which literally spans the globe. This is embodied in the Fort Connah project. Scottish settlers and traders who sojourned to North America often intermarried with Native Americans within their first two generations in America. With many commonalities like a complex clan system, trading routes and a mystic connection with the land on which they settled, a perfect example is Angus McDonald who married a Native American and had 13 children.

Since his birth in 1816 in Craig, Scotland, Angus McDonald was raised as a Glencoe clansman in Loch Torridon. By Fall of 1839, McDonald was stationed at the Fort Colville outpost in eastern Washington, staging point on the 2,000 mile-long Oregon Trail. While he found success as a fur trader and way station manager, his heart found its home in the Mission Valley near present-day Post Creek, Montana in 1847. There he soon found his soulmate, Catherine, among the Nez Perce who carried on brisk trade at the post and who were later to find tragedy with their brave leader Chief Joseph.