FUR TRADE

IN CANADA
KEITH WILSON

FOCUS ON CANADIAN HISTORY SERIES

KEITH WILSON

FOCUS ON CANADIAN HISTORY SERIES

Grolier Limited
TORONTO

COUNTY
LIBRARY
Cover: Bivouac of a Canoe Party, painting by Frances Ann Hopkins

Cover Design: Didier Fiszel

Maps: Jane Davie

Illustration Credits: Public Archives of Canada, cover and page 46; Ontario
Ministry of Natural Resources, page 12, Hudson’s Bay Company, pages
14, 19, 32, 35, 36, 41, 48, 62, 64, 67, 68, 70, 72, 73, 77 and 81;
Glenbow Alberta Institute, page 25; Ontario Ministry of Industry and
Tourism, page 50; Public Archives of British Columbia, page 56; Manitoba
Archives, page 74.

Canadian Cataloguing in Publication Data

Wilson, Keith, 1929-
Fur trade in Canada

(Focus on Canadian history series)

Includes index.
ISBN 0-7172-1807-4

I. Fur trade - Canada - History. I. Title.

II. Series.

FC3207.W54 971 C80-094658-8

F1060.W54

Copyright© 1980 by Grolier Limited. All rights reserved.

1234567890 THB 9876543210

Printed and bound in Canada

Contents

Preface 7

Introduction 9

Chapter 1 The Beaver 11

Chapter 2 Beginnings and New France 16

Chapter 3 Rivals for the Trade 29

Chapter 4 Two Great Companies 45

Chapter 5 The New Fludson’s Bay Company 60

Chapter 6 The Fur Trade Today 80

Selected Biographies 85

Glossary 90

Selected Further Reading 91

For Discussion 92

Index 95
Preface

There are many good reasons for studying history. To begin with,
we need to know something of the past if we are fully to understand
the present, for many of the things we do are influenced by events
which happened long ago.
History, however, does more than teach us about those
events; it also teaches us something about human nature and how
the actions and thoughts of people reflect their surroundings and
traditions. If we question why things happened and why people
thought and acted as they did in the past, we can learn to under¬
stand why some people today act and think differently from each
other and from us.
History is not just about wars and acts of government. History
covers everything that happened in the past, and the past can be
as near as yesterday. If you have ever wondered how Canada
came into being, you need to learn something of the fur trade and
the men and women who worked in it. The fur trade was as
important to early Canada as oil is to Saudi Arabia today.
Canada has had quite an exciting history—wars, explora¬
tions, pioneering struggles, heroism, greed and self-sacrifice. As
you read of the voyages of Cartier and Champlain, the explorations
of La Verendrye and Mackenzie and the ruthless efficiency of
Governor Simpson of the Hudson’s Bay Company, you should
go back in your imagination and try to understand why these
people acted as they did and what hardships they had to overcome.
You may not always approve of the things they did, but you must
remember that there are always at least two sides to every question.
You can probably put yourself quite easily in the place of Cartier
when he first saw the Indians and traded for furs. But try also to
put yourself in the place of the Indians when they first saw Cartier’s
ship approaching. And you must be careful not to judge the actions
of people in the past by your own standards today. What seems
unfair or dishonest to you may have been perfectly acceptable
generations ago. Remember too that perhaps in another hundred
years historians may be judging you!
Now a comment about the use of names. This is always a
problem to anyone writing about the past. To be really accurate,
we cannot refer to places before they existed or before they were
named. We cannot say that La Verendrye reached a certain town
if at that time the town did not exist. What we really should say
is that he reached a spot where a particular town now stands.
Another problem arises when names change their meanings. A
good example is the name Canada. Today, when we use it we
mean all of the nation as it now exists. But Canada in 1867 covered
only Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and parts of modern Ontario
and Quebec. Still earlier, Canada included only parts of present-
day Ontario and Quebec. To avoid confusion, names in this book
are used with their present meanings.
I hope that you will enjoy this story of the fur trade and that
you will be interested enough to begin looking at the history that
is all around you in your own community.
I would like to thank Ken Pearson who encouraged me to
write this book and Jocelyn Smyth who edited the manuscript and
made many helpful suggestions.
Introduction

You have probably noticed that a Canadian five-cent coin has a

beaver on one side and the Queen’s head on the other. You know,
of course, that the Queen is Queen of Canada, but have you ever
wondered why the beaver is so honored? It is an interesting story
because the beaver and other fur-bearing animals were very im¬
portant in the early history of Canada.
Fur-bearing animals were always plentiful in Canada, and
you can probably guess that two of the reasons for this are climate
and terrain. The geography of Canada is mainly the result of the
Ice Age. Millions of years ago, glaciers covered most of the North
American continent. These glaciers were like enormous rivers of
ice. They levelled much of the hilly land, cut hollows which later
became lakes, and forced rivers to find new channels by filling
their former beds. The ice had completely melted by about eleven
thousand years ago, but the receding glaciers left a land with little
topsoil, dotted with thousands of lakes and connecting streams.
This vast area is now known as the Canadian Shield, and it
stretches from Labrador to the Northwest Territories in a large
arc. If you have ever travelled along the northern shores of the
Great Lakes, you will have some idea of what the fringes of the
Shield look like. With its countless waterways, its many wooded
areas and its cold climate, it is an ideal home for many fur-bearing
animals.
For centuries this land was also sparsely populated. The first
inhabitants began to arrive shortly after the Ice Age. These were
the ancestors of the Inuit and of the people now known as Indians.
They probably came originally from Asia across the land bridge
9
10

which scientists believe once spanned the Bering Strait. Gradually,

over a period of thousands of years, they spread throughout the
continent. As the various groups became separated, they devel¬
oped different languages and adopted ways of life suited to the
area in which they lived.
Most Indians became nomads, constantly moving from place
to place in search of food. The animals they killed provided that
food as well as clothing and shelter. While the Plains Indians
lived off the vast herds of buffalo, other tribes soon learned to
trap the smaller fur-bearing animals.
For several centuries after the Norsemen reached Canada
about A.D. 1000, Europeans remained ignorant of the American
continent. Then came John Cabot’s journey to Newfoundland in
1497. It led indirectly to the beginning of the fur trade, and the
fur trade attracted to the shores of Canada first the French and
then the English.
For hundreds of years, the French and the English had fought
wars in Europe, and they brought this rivalry with them to Canada.
Each enlisted the aid of certain Indian tribes for the Indians were
vital to the fur trade. They gathered most of the furs for the traders,
showed them the trails and canoe routes which opened up the
country, and taught them to survive in the harsh climate. The
Indians gained much from their early contacts with the traders.
They acquired firearms and better tools, and in some ways led an
easier life. But they also paid a price for this. They suffered
appallingly from diseases against which they had no resistance.
They grew to depend too much on the traders, and they eventually
lost many of their traditional skills.
The fur trade shaped the early history of Canada. From the
French discovery of the country’s fur riches, the trade grew rap¬
idly. It spurred the exploration of half a continent, destroyed a
way of life, and caused long and bitter conflicts among both
Indians and Europeans. It led ultimately to the birth of a new
nation stretching from coast to coast. Within the fur trade, the
beaver was always dominant. It is entirely fitting, then, that in
1975 the Canadian Parliament honored the beaver as a '‘symbol
of the sovereignty of Canada.”
The Beaver
Chapter

From the earliest times of prehistory, men and women have worn
furs. The cavemen of northern Europe must have huddled around
their meagre fires clutching crude robes of animal fur to keep out
the bitter winter chill. For many hundreds of years, poor peasants
used the furs of wild or domestic animals both for clothing and
for shelter. But by the Middle Ages furs had found another value.
Apart from keeping people warm in the cold stone castles of the
time, they also became symbols of power and authority. Kings,
princes and barons trimmed their robes with magnificent ermine,
and many rich merchants donned other furs to show their wealth
and their importance.
In the 1500s there was a great demand for all types of furs,
especially the high-quality furs which only the rich could afford.
The best furs came to western Europe from the cold regions of
northern Russia and Scandinavia because most animals grow their
thickest furs in the extremely cold climates of those countries.
Among the wealthy nobles, the most popular furs for many years
were ermine and marten. Those who could not afford ermine and
marten bought cheaper furs to line their clothes. The furs of otter,
squirrel and fox were actually less expensive than heavy wool
cloth. The seamstresses preparing the wedding clothes for one
French princess in the fourteenth century used 11,794 squirrel
skins, all imported from Scandinavia!
During the Middle Ages a regular fur trade developed, with
furs being sold at the great fairs at Leipzig and other European
cities. Towards the end of the 1400s, however, supplies of the

11
12

The beaver’s fur is very dense and fine, with long coarse guard hairs scattered
through it. Its large hind feet are webbed for fast swimming and its broad flat
tail is covered with scaly skin. Beavers are sociable and placid animals, who
quickly seek safety in the water when alarmed. They warn others of danger by
slapping the surface of the water with their tails.

best-quality furs were gradually running out, and people had to

begin using other furs and seeking new supplies. Then, within a'
few decades, the main demand was for beaver. This happened
because of a new fashion among the wealthier people of western
Europe—the beaver hat. Hatters found that beaver fur was es¬
pecially suited for making a durable felt which could be shaped
in many different ways. For this they used the soft fur with nu¬
merous little barbs which remained after the long glossy guard
hairs had been removed. According to some historians, however,
the hatter’s trade had its dangers. In the process of making felt,
the hatters used a compound of mercury. As they worked, they
could not avoid breathing in some of the poisonous compound.
 13

This gradually affected their brains and gave rise to the well-
known saying “mad as a hatter.”

Castor Canadensis
The beaver is descended from the giant Castoroides which grew
to 350 kilograms or more and lived about a million years ago. It
is the second largest rodent in the world, the largest being the
capybara, which lives in South America. Rodents are animals that
gnaw, and they include rats, squirrels and gophers. Today there
are only two living species of beaver: the Castor fiber, found in
small numbers in Europe, and the Castor canadensis, found in
North America.
The Castor canadensis is a large animal which, at full
growth, can be up to 1.3 metres in length and weigh almost thirty
kilograms. Its fur is usually dark brown and consists of a thick
woolly undercoat covered by a layer of shiny guard hairs.
The beaver is ideally suited for a life spent mainly in the
water. Its paddle-like tail is effective as a rudder, and its hind feet
are webbed for fast swimming. It can close its ears, nostrils and
mouth when submerged, and its eyes are protected from under¬
water debris by clear sliding shields. Near its tail are two sacs
containing a yellow, oily fluid called castor or castoreum. The
beavers use this to waterproof their fur, but it is also used as a
base for expensive perfumes.
Beavers are vegetarians and they eat no meat of any kind.
Their usual diet consists of roots of water plants, twigs and the
bark of favorite trees such as the poplar, birch and willow. They
depend heavily on their teeth, which grow continually, and which
are as sharp as chisels. They can gnaw down trees up to a metre
in diameter, and it takes them as little as three minutes to fell a
willow of ten centimetres in diameter.
Beavers are also great engineers. For safety, they always
stay near water. First they build a dam to halt the water flow of
a stream and create a large pond. They start building the dam by
putting green brush and branches into the water with the cut ends
upstream. The current presses the branches into the mud of the
stream bed and this gives the beaver a good foundation to which
Beavers usually make their home near the bank of a sluggish stream. In order
to maintain a supply of water that will hide the entrance of their lodge and allow
for food storage, they build a dam across the stream at a place below their
settlement. They begin in the centre of the channel and work from there to each
shore. The dam shown here was about 200 metres long and almost 2 metres high.

he adds sticks, mud and stones. Floating debris also gets caught
in the dam which gradually builds up, sometimes to enormous
proportions.
Once they have made a pond, the beavers build their home
or lodge. They first make an island by piling up sticks and mud,
and this island then becomes the floor of their lodge. Then they
build a mound of mud about 60 centimetres high and use this as
a temporary support for a roof, which they make by piling on
sticks and covering them with earth. When the dome reaches a
height of about 1.5 metres, the beavers remove the mud through
underwater tunnels. This leaves them a large and safe home on
a solid foundation. With their supply of food stored underwater
 15

near the tunnels, the lodge provides a secure and comfortable

haven for the harsh Canadian winter.
Each spring a litter of young beavers is born in the darkness
of the lodge. The new-born beavers are known as '"kits, and a
litter usually includes three or four. They soon learn to help their
parents by cutting trees and repairing the dam and lodge. They
normally stay with their parents for about two years, so that there
are often as many as eight or ten beavers in one lodge. At the age
of two, they leave to find their own mates and to build their own
dam and lodge. Beavers always keep their own mate, and they
usually live from twelve to fifteen years unless killed by their
natural enemies, the otter, wolf or lynx, or by men.
It is men, who have devised many clever means of catching
them, who are the deadliest of all the beavers’ enemies. In the
earlier days, many Indians used to smash in the domes of the
beaver lodges; later traps were invented which were humane and
did not damage the furs. Today, the methods of trapping vary
greatly across Canada and often depend on the climate and the
thickness of the ice.
It has been estimated that there were as many as ten million
beavers in North America before the white man came. Nonethe¬
less, when the demand for beaver fur was at its height, there was
a very real danger that excessive trapping would wipe out the
species. Changes in fashion and a growing concern for conser¬
vation have fortunately saved it from extinction, and the beaver
continues to be a considerable source of wealth for Canada.
Beginnings and New France
Chapter

By the year 1500, many Europeans were becoming aware for the
first time of the vast continent which lay to the west and would
soon be named America. European merchants had long grown
wealthy by trading in spices from the Fast East, but they had
problems in getting these spices quickly and cheaply. The overland
route was long, dangerous and costly, so they began searching
for a dependable sea route. The famous voyage of Columbus in
1492 revealed that a new continent blocked the western route to
Asia. The merchants then had two alternatives: they could reach
the Indies by sailing round the southern tip of Africa or by finding
a route around or through the newly discovered continent of
America. Thus began the search for the Northwest Passage.
In 1497 John Cabot, a Venetian sailor employed by Henry
VII of England, was the first to explore Canadian waters. After
more than a month at sea, he sighted land at Belle Isle and then
turned south to Griquet on the northern shore of Newfoundland.
There he landed, erected the banners of St. George and St. Mark,
and formally took possession of the land for the English king. The
discovery of snares and nets proved that the land was inhabited,
but he saw no people. He then explored the jagged eastern coast¬
line of Newfoundland but did not land again. One reason may
well have been his fear of the vicious mosquitoes which at one
time were thought to be the size of chickens!
Cabot returned to England firmly convinced that he had found
Asia, but he also reported having sailed through great seas of fish
“which are caught not only with the net but with baskets.” This
16
 17

news certainly kept up an interest in the area. Many fishermen

from western Europe made their way to these incredibly rich
fishing grounds, but they were interested only in the fish and not
in exploration.

The Voyages of Cartier and the First Trading Posts

No further exploration in fact took place for over thirty years,
until Jacques Cartier set sail from St. Malo, France, in 1534. He
hoped to find precious metals and possibly a route to Asia. Failing
that, he would claim any new lands he discovered for the French
king. Sailing through the Strait of Belle Isle, Cartier explored the
coast of Fabrador, which was so desolate that he called it “the
land God gave to Cain.” He then crossed the Gulf of St. Fawrence
and passed the Magdalen Islands where birds were “as thick
ashore as a meadow with grass. ’ ’ At another little island he noticed
“several big beasts, big as oxen, with two teeth in their mouths
like the elephant.” He had seen his first walrus! After touching
the tip of Prince Edward Island, Cartier then explored the mainland
coast of the Gaspe Peninsula.
There he met two fleets of Indian canoes and noted in his
journal that the Indians “made frequent signs to us to come on
shore, holding up to us some furs on sticks.” Eater, he wrote,
“they sent on shore part of their people with some of their furs;
and the two parties traded together. They bartered all they had to
such an extent that all went back naked without anything on them;
and they made signs to us that they would return on the morrow
with more furs.” This was the beginning of the fur trade in Canada.
At first the trade in furs did not grow very rapidly. Most of
the visitors to this region still came for fish; nearly every year,
fishermen from Spain, Portugal, France and England crossed the
Atlantic to the rich cod-fishing grounds of the Grand Banks off
Newfoundland. As they landed to dry their catch and mend their
nets, however, they met the local Indians, who willingly traded
furs for implements and other small articles. This trade gradually
increased, and before many years had passed, regular trading posts
were established every summer. The main post was at Tadoussac,
where the Saguenay River enters the St. Fawrence.
18

As the sixteenth century drew to a close, the tur trade began

to surpass fishing in value. Then, as beaver hats became fash¬
ionable in Europe, the fur trade in the Saguenay region grew even
more quickly. The Indians organized a more efficient trapping
system, and they also developed a method of treating beaver furs
which made them especially valuable to the European traders with
whom they dealt.
Many Indians in this cold northerly region used beaver fur
for clothing. They took the pelts in winter when they were of
prime quality. They then scraped the inner sides, rubbed them
with animal marrow and cut them into rectangles for stitching
together as robes. They wore these robes with the fur next to the
body, and with wearing, the long guard hairs fell out and the fur
became soft and ideally suited for making felt. These furs were
later known as castor gras d'hiver (greasy winter beaver). The
furs which had not been worn were called castor sec and were
less valuable.

Early Settlement and Exploration

As the trade increased, the French naturally thought of strength¬
ening their position by setting up a permanent trading post. Cartier
had tried to do this at Stadacona (now Quebec) in 1541, but he
had found the difficulties too great. The Indians were hostile, and
many of the settlers could not face the hardships of a Canadian
winter. The settlement was soon abandoned and no new attempt
was made for almost sixty years.
In 1600 a small group of French merchants again tried to set
up a permanent post at Tadoussac. Although it lasted only a year,
they did not give up. In 1603 they sent two ships to trade in furs
and to explore the St. Lawrence more thoroughly. On board one
of the ships was Samuel de Champlain, the man destined to be¬
come the founder of French Canada.
Champlain was already an experienced seaman. He had jour¬
neyed to the West Indies where he had seen the rich Spanish
colonies and he now wanted to judge whether Canada would be
a suitable colony for France. At Tadoussac he met a band of
Algonquins who now controlled the traffic in furs down the Ottawa
 19

“ CONTINENTAL ” “ NAVY’’
COCKED HAT. COCKED HAT.
(1776) (1800)

CLERICAL.
(Eighteenth Century)
ARMY. (1837)

(THE WELLINGTON.) (THE PARIS BEAU.)

(1812) CIVIL. (1815)

(the d’orsay.) (the regent.)

(1820) (1825)

In the early seventeenth century, the demand for pelts created by the popularity
of beaver hats spurred efforts to establish permanent trading posts in what is now
Canada. Two centuries later, the beaver hat was as popular as ever among
gentlemen, members of the clergy and army and navy officers.
20

River. Not only were they eager to trade, they also wanted French
help against their tribal enemies, the Iroquois. While they, and
the Montagnais in the Saguenay area, were willing to let the
French settle, they wisely did not encourage French exploration
inland. This might have put the French in direct touch with the
fur-hunting tribes in the interior and would have weakened their
own control. The Algonquins and Montagnais were shrewd busi¬
nessmen, determined to keep their trading advantages and profits.
Champlain, impressed by the riches of the fur trade and
convinced that the South Sea (Pacific Ocean) lay only a little
farther to the west, gave a favorable report on his return to
France. The French king then took immediate steps to establish
a permanent colony. He commissioned a nobleman, the Sieur de
Monts, to establish a settlement and convert the Indians to Chris¬
tianity. To help him pay the costs of this, the King granted him
a ten-year monopoly of the fur trade. This meant that de Monts
could control the trade and fix prices high enough to make the
money he needed. Among his collaborators in the project was
Champlain.

The Acadian Experiment

Like Cartier, De Monts found that building a settlement was more
difficult than he thought. The first attempt was on an island at the
mouth of the Ste. Croix River, which today marks the boundary
between New Brunswick and the state of Maine. The colonists
were ill prepared for the horrors of their first winter. Their shelter
was inadequate and the winter so cold that “the cider froze in the
casks and each man was given his portion by weight.’’ They ran
short of fuel, food and fresh water, and an outbreak of scurvy
caused the death of thirty-six men. In the spring survivors wisely
decided to move across the Bay of Fundy to a better site, which
they called Port Royal.
At Port Royal, Champlain directed the building of a “hab¬
itation” with a well-protected and spacious warehouse, living
quarters, mill and even a garden. During their first winter there,
Indians came from near and far to bring them fresh meat and to
barter beaver and otter skins. Life was now far more bearable,
The main waterways, settlements and trading posts of eastern Canada.
22

and to keep their spirits high, Champlain organized the Order of

Good Cheer. Every two weeks, one member of the small com¬
munity took his turn at providing an evening’s food and enter¬
tainment for the others. Each tried to outdo the one who had gone
before, and the resulting feasting and merriment helped carry them
through the winter.
But Port Royal was not well situated for controlling the fur
trade, and the habitation was temporarily abandoned in 1607.
Then, in the following year, Champlain established a fur-trading
post at Quebec which became the first permanent settlement in
New France.

The Founding of Quebec

Quebec was an ideal site. Champlain clearly saw the importance
of this natural rock fortress which commanded the narrow part of
the St. Lawrence River. He called it Quebec from the Indian word
kebec meaning “a narrowing of waters.” Immediately he began
to strengthen it by building a habitation, and in less than a month
his men had erected three frame houses around a courtyard in
which stood a watchtower. Strong walls protected this cluster of
buildings, and outside them all ran a moat on three sides and the
river on the fourth. With cannon commanding the river approaches,
it was well defended against any attack.
The founding of Quebec was perhaps Champlain’s greatest
achievement, and it had many important results. Because of its
permanence and its location, it gave Frenchmen a strong and well-
organized base from which to control the trade, stop the unlicensed
Tree traders,’ and begin explorations to the interior. It also gave
them a much-needed feeling of security.The fledgling colony at
Quebec nevertheless faced many problems. At first, of course,
it was simply a small trading post and fort, and its garrison suffered
terribly during the first winter. Only eight people survived the
bitter cold, the scurvy and the dysentery to greet the arrival of the
supply ship in the spring. With the coming of the first true settlers,
Louis Hebert and his family, in 1617, the trading post finally
began to develop into a real settlement.Though several more dis¬
asters struck, it was never completely abandoned.
 23

New France under Company Rule

The French king wanted a colony in Canada which would even¬
tually bring added glory and wealth to France. The colony, there¬
fore, had to be strong enough to resist attack by either European
or Indian enemies. But the king was unwilling to pay for all this.
To solve his problem, he turned to the increasingly profitable fur
trade.
He granted a charter to a small group of merchants and gave
them sole control of the fur trade in New France and sole right
to sell the furs in the mother country. In return for these privileges,
the merchants agreed to bring out settlers and support the young
colony by paying for its government. This system of monopolies
lasted until 1663. Although it had some obvious advantages, it
also had many disadvantages, the main one being uncertainty. If
the king granted a monopoly, he could just as easily cancel it.
Because of the profits to be made, there were always many com¬
petitors seeking the king’s favor. The monopoly did, in fact,
change hands several times, with the result that trade was fre¬
quently disrupted. Moreover, the traders never quite knew where
they stood and were unwilling to plan for the future.
In 1627, therefore, the French government awarded the mo¬
nopoly to a new company, the Company of New France. This was
a large, well-financed company which included many famous
Frenchmen on its board of directors in Paris. It had a hundred
shareholders and was popularly known as the Company of One
Hundred Associates. In return for a fifteen-year trade monopoly
and control of all French lands in North America, the company
agreed to do three things: to govern and defend New France, to
bring out settlers so that within fifteen years the population would
number 4000, and to strengthen the Roman Catholic church by
bringing out priests and missionaries.
The company’s ambitious plans soon ran into difficulties. In
1628 an English force captured the ships bringing settlers and
provisions; in the following year it seized Quebec, which remained
in English hands until 1632. Threatened by financial problems
and the hostility of the Iroquois, the company kept going only by
leasing its fur-trade monopoly to other companies while continuing
24

to rule the colony. The company also sold seigniories to landlords

who agreed to bring out more colonists. Despite these efforts and
those of the church, however, the population of New France grew
very slowly and numbered only 2500 by 1663.

The Colony Expands

All the same, many changes had occurred in New France and in
the fur trade since the foundation of Quebec in 1608. The most
obvious change was the expansion of the colony.
Quebec grew steadily, if slowly, and soon replaced Tadoussac
as the fur centre of New France. But as the demand for furs
continued to increase, Champlain and his successors had to make
sure of a regular supply. Champlain was both colonizer and ex¬
plorer. He was fascinated by the stories he heard of the vast interior
regions and impressed by the birchbark canoes, which he knew
would help him penetrate into the unknown wilderness.

Indian Alliances
Any extension of trade, of course, meant getting involved in the
fierce tribal hostilities of the Indians. At first the Montagnais and
Algonquins, who lived on the northern shore of the St. Lawrence,
provided furs and acted as middlemen for the tribes in the interior.
But as the other tribes became aware of the goods and weapons
traded by the French, more of them wanted to join in. One Indian,
who clearly saw the value of the trade, commented with consid¬
erable understanding: “In truth, my brothers, the beaver does
everything to perfection. He makes for us better kettles, axes,
swords, knives, and gives us drink and food without the trouble
of cultivating the ground.’’ As could only be expected, compe¬
tition for the trade aggravated the hostility that had long existed
between the Iroquois and their neighbors, the Hurons, Montagnais
and Algonquins.
From the start Champlain aided the Algonquins and Mon¬
tagnais against the Iroquois. As early as 1609, he explored the
Richelieu River as far as Lake Champlain and helped to defeat
an Iroquois war party. That victory was easy, but once the Iroquois
obtained modern weapons from the Dutch, who had colonies just
Like many missionaries
and coureurs de bois,
Father Frangois-Jo-
seph le Mercier, who
lived among the Hurons
and Iroquois for twenty
years, adopted many of
the Indians’ ways in or¬
der to survive.

to the south, they became and long remained a real danger to the
French and their Indian allies.
Knowing that the fur trade depended on regular supplies
coming down the Ottawa River from the Huron country, Cham¬
plain sent many a young man from Quebec to live among the
Indians there. They would learn the Indians’ languages and cus¬
toms, and try to win their friendship. The most famous of these
young adventurers was Etienne Brule, who spent several winters
with different tribes and who may well have travelled as far west
as Lake Superior.
In 1613 Champlain made a trip up the Ottawa River and then,
two years later, undertook his greatest exploration. To aid the
Hurons against the Iroquois, he travelled up the Ottawa River,
across the Mattawa to Lake Nipissing and down the French River
to Georgian Bay. From there he made his way down to the land
south of Lake Ontario. Although his attack on the Iroquois failed,
his journey encouraged many others to follow his example.
26

New Settlements — Trois-Rivieres and Montreal

In the following years, French traders pushed farther inland up
the rivers. They would often take their trade goods, live with the
Indians during the winter and then return to the trading posts in
the spring with their cargo of furs. As these trading trips gradually
opened up the lands to the west of the St. Lawrence, the settlement
of New France itself also expanded.
In 1634 Trois-Rivieres began as a small trading post on the
northern shore of the St. Lawrence, 125 kilometres upstream from
Quebec. Then, eight years later, Montreal was founded as a mis¬
sion on an island located where the Ottawa River flows into the
St. Lawrence. In the spring, these posts—and particularly Mon¬
treal—were the scene of the annual fur fairs. These were lively
and picturesque events. The Indians would come down to trade
their furs in the time-honored fashion, and the coureurs de bois
added to the excitement. After a season spent in the woods, these
adventurous traders were determined to give full vent to their high
spirits. Their celebrations all too often ended in bouts of drun¬
kenness which earned them a reputation as a rather wild lot.
Montreal began as a mission post called Ville-Marie and
serves as a useful reminder of the important part that missionaries
played in the life of New France. Missionaries had come out to
Port Royal to win converts among the neighboring Indian tribes
even before Champlain established Quebec. The first missionaries
in Quebec were three Recollet fathers who arrived in 1615. When
they realized how great their task was, they sought help from the
Jesuits, who arrived in 1625 and almost immediately set out to
work among the Hurons. As they penetrated deeper into Huron
territory, the Jesuit missionaries learned much about the geography
of the region. This knowledge was very valuable to the many
explorers who later crossed this area. But the Jesuits also suffered
many hardships as they tried to win the respect and friendship of
the Hurons. Their work was far from easy. Many Indians under¬
standably resented missionaries who tried to make them give up
their religion and accept a new God. “Christianity,” said one
Huron, “is good for the French; we are another people with
different customs.”
 27

The Jesuits persevered, however, and finally established a

mission called Sainte-Marie near Georgian Bay. Protected by
walls, it included a hospital, chapel, lodgings and a farm with
crops and livestock. From this centre, they set up smaller missions
throughout the Huron lands. But their efforts soon received a
severe setback. In the 1640s the Iroquois, now better armed with
modern weapons, renewed their attacks. They desperately needed
furs to trade for European weapons and utensils, and they could
get them only by subduing their neighbors. If they could destroy
New France and its Indian allies, they would be able to trade
freely and profitably with the Dutch on the Hudson River.

The Fight for Survival

The French could not defend the many kilometres of waterways
linking their small settlements at Quebec, Trois-Rivieres and
Montreal with the fur-rich lands to the north and west. The first
of many attacks took place in 1642 when the Iroquois ambushed
Huron canoes bringing furs down to Quebec. As the attacks con¬
tinued, the Indian allies of the French naturally became frightened
and hesitated to bring in their furs. Trade dwindled to a trickle.
Then, in 1648, the Iroquois turned their full fury against the Hurons
and their French allies. The missions were abandoned, many
priests were killed and the Hurons ceased to exist as a nation.
By this time, of course, the fur trade was almost at a standstill.
One Jesuit reported in 1653:
Before the devastation of the Hurons, a hundred canoes used to
come to trade, all laden with Beaver-skins; and each year we had
two or three hundred thousand livres’ worth. That was a fine
revenue with which to satisfy all the people, and defray the heavy
expenses of the country . . .
The Iroquois war dried up all these springs. The Beavers are
left in peace and in the place of their repose; the Huron fleets no
longer come down to trade; the Algonquins are depopulated; and
the more distant Nations are withdrawing still farther, fearing the
fire of the Iroquois.
New France was fighting for its life. Bands of Iroquois constantly
threatened the settlements. In the spring of 1660, a gallant stand
by Dollard des Ormeaux and his sixteen companions at the Long
28

Sault Rapids on the Ottawa River may have saved Montreal from
destruction. The young Frenchmen all lost their lives, but the
encounter dissuaded the Iroquois from further attack. New France
was safe, but hardly flourishing.
The colony had suffered many hardships. The population was
still small, and the missionaries had only had partial success. The
fur trade, on which the colony depended for its wealth and even
for its very existence, had virtually been destroyed. A drastic
change was needed if the colony were ever to prosper. This change
came in 1663 with the imposition of royal government, and it
came just in time.
Royal government was strong government. French regular
soldiers defeated the Iroquois and regained control of the Ottawa
River trade route. Immigration and new industries strengthened
the colony and restored the morale of the people. But then came
a new threat. In 1664 the English captured the Dutch colonies to
the south and now controlled much of the Atlantic coast and the
Hudson River route to the interior. Just seven years later, through
the adventurous exploits of two young Frenchmen, Pierre Esprit
Radisson and Medard Chouart, later Sieur des Groseilliers, the
English also established themselves on Hudson Bay. The fur trade
of New France would be threatened from two sides.
Rivals for the Trade
Chapter

In the 1650s the Iroquois threats had almost brought the fur trade
to a standstill. But while many traders were much too timid to
face the possibility of an Iroquois attack, there were always a few
brave and adventuresome young men who would willingly risk
their lives to make a quick profit in furs. Radisson and Groseilliers
were two such men.

The Adventures of Radisson and Groseilliers

Groseilliers, whose name means 4 4 gooseberry , ’ ’ was born in France
in 1618. He came to Quebec about 1641 and first learned something
about the western lands by working with the Jesuits among the
Hurons. Later, he and an unknown companion spent two full years
trying to reopen the fur trade routes which the Iroquois had closed.
According to the Jesuits, who kept a written record of most things
that happened in New France, 4'universal joy” greeted their even¬
tual return with fifty canoes laden with furs. After several years
of almost no trade, no wonder the people were excited! Perhaps
the colony could survive after all.
Groseilliers was also able to tell the colonists more about the
lands to the west. He told them that “there are in the Northern
region many Lakes which might be called freshwater Seas, the
great Lake of the Hurons, and another near it, being as large as
the Caspian Sea.” He had also heard of 4'many Nations surround¬
ing the Nation of the Sea which some have called 'the Stinkards,’
because its people formerly lived on the shores of the Sea, which
they call Ouinipeg, that is, ‘stinking water.’ ” On this journey
29
30

Groseilliers stayed for a time at Green Bay on Lake Michigan,

and it is possible that others in his party may even have reached
the Mississippi.
In 1659 the restless Groseilliers again set out from his home
in Trois-Rivieres for the West. This time he took along his young
brother-in-law, Pierre Esprit Radisson. They were almost ready
to leave when the governor insisted they take one of his servants
with them. But the two adventurers were determined to be free
to make their own plans. So they said nothing then slipped out
quietly to meet their Indian guides at a prearranged place on the
St. Lawrence River.
It was an exciting and eventful journey. To begin with, they
only just avoided an Iroquois attack on the Ottawa River. Then
it took all their skill and strength to negotiate the treacherous
waters near Lake Nipissing. With great relief they finally reached
the calm waters of Lake Huron, where paddling was easier and
where there was little danger from the Iroquois. They then made
their way through the narrow waters into Lake Superior and spent
some time at Chequamegon Bay on its southern shore. There they
built a little fort and feasted the Indians they met with the wild
animals and fowl which they shot. While making friends, they
missed no opportunity to trade for furs. They also thoroughly
enjoyed the attention and respect they received from the Indians
who had never seen Europeans before. Young Radisson, who was
a keen storyteller and a bit of an actor, must particularly have
enjoyed this new and strange audience even if they did not always
understand some of his wild and fanciful tales.
But soon it was time for the two Frenchmen and their Indian
guides to move on. As winter set in, they faced the threat of
starvation. Heavy snowfalls made it impossible to kill game, and
it was only with the goodwill of the Indians they met that they
were able to survive. In the spring, laden with furs, they set out
from Lake Superior to return home. Passing by the site of Dollard’s
stand at the Long Sault, they saw the bodies of the French heroes.
They reached Montreal late in August and then continued on to
Trois-Rivieres and Quebec.
Their return to New France with a rich cargo of furs again
 31

probably saved the colony. According to Mother Marie de

TIncarnation, head of the Ursuline convent in Quebec, the fur
merchants had been just about to leave the country, “believing
that nothing further could be done for its trade.”
It was the custom for the Company of New France to take
as a tax one-quarter of the value of all furs brought into the colony.
The cargo of furs collected by Groseilliers and Radisson was so
large that the tax on it accounted for most of the colony’s income.
Everyone should have been very pleased, but unfortunately, the
governor was still furious because the two adventurers had left
without his permission. He imposed a heavy fine on them and
even imprisoned Groseilliers for a short time. This seemed a harsh
punishment, but it was not entirely undeserved. Illegal trading,
the governor thought, weakened the colony by attracting the youngest
and most adventuresome men. Many of them were bored with a
dull life on the farm and eagerly seized the chance for the thrill
and danger of trading with the Indians. But if they were out in
the forests, who would be left to till the soil and protect the
colonists? If only a few men went, there might be no danger; but
as more and more left, the governor tried to put a stop to it. He
was only partly successful, for by 1680 there were as many as
eight hundred illegal traders.
Groseilliers and Radisson were, of course, disgusted at the
actions of the governor, and they decided to turn their backs on
an ungrateful New France. During their last journey west they had
learned that the finest furs came from the land of the Cree beyond
Lake Superior. They had also learned that the best way to bring
out the furs would probably be by the much shorter route to the
shores of Hudson Bay. In the next few years they made plans to
reach the Bay, but their attempts to do so were unsuccessful. They
did turn up in New England, however. It was from there that the
English government heard of their exploits and their reports of
furs in the North. In 1665 they accepted an invitation to England
and took with them furs valued at £500 when they sailed.
They obviously knew how to impress King Charles and his
courtiers. Radisson always liked to put on a show, and he was
determined to win English support for their planned venture to
32

In 1668 Groseilliers set sail from England on the ketch Nonsuch and reached the
shores of James Bay. His success led to the formation of the Hudson's Bay
Company. The Nonsuch, built in 1650, was probably manned by a crew of eight
or ten. An exact replica, shown here sailing off Toronto, is now on display at
the Manitoba Museum of Man and Nature in Winnipeg.
 33

Hudson Bay. He went into the king’s presence dressed as an Indian

chief and then held the court spellbound by his exciting and wildly
exaggerated tales. He falsely claimed to have reached the shores
of Hudson Bay and asserted that it took only seven days by canoe
from the Bay to Lake Winnipeg, and from there only another
seven days to the “South Sea,” or Pacific Ocean.
King Charles probably did not believe all these claims, but
he was amused and interested enough to promise his support. After
three years of preparations, Groseilliers and Radisson set sail for
Hudson Bay, Groseilliers in the Nonsuch and Radisson in the
Eaglet. Unfortunately the two ships encountered heavy storms in
the North Atlantic. The Eaglet lost its mast in a gale and turned
back to England, but the Nonsuch persevered on through Hudson
Strait and down to the mouth of the Rupert River which flows
into James Bay. By this time it was already September, and
Groseilliers prepared to spend the winter on this rocky shoreline.
He immediately put his men to work, and very soon they had built
a small palisaded fort which they named Fort Charles in honor
of the king. Though they may not have fully realized it, they were
on the fringes of the richest beaver country of North America.
Next spring over three hundred Indians came to trade furs,
and the Nonsuch returned to England with a rich cargo. This
success quickly won the support of the English government and
of a group of eighteen wealthy men. In the following year these
men received from the king a royal charter as “The Governor and
Company of Adventurers of England Trading into Hudson’s Bay. ’ ’
The first Governor was Prince Rupert, who was the cousin of
King Charles.

The Hudson’s Bay Company

The new company received enormous powers. Its main interest,
of course, was in the valuable fur trade, and the charter granted
it “the sole Trade and Commerce of all those Seas Streightes
Bayes Rivers Lakes Creekes and Soundes in whatever Latitude
they shall bee that lie within the entrance of the Streightes com¬
monly called Hudsons Streightes.” The members of the company,
however, were to be more than traders; they were also to be “the
34

true and absolute Lordes and Proprietors” of the vast area which
drained into Hudson Bay.
In return for this grant of almost half a continent, the company
promised to pay to the king “two Elkes and two Black beavers
whensoever and as often as Wee our heires and successors shall
happen to enter into the said Countryes Territoryes and Regions
hereby granted. ’ ’ This was a very good bargain for the company—
it paid no rent for over two hundred years!
As soon as the charter had been granted, the new company
sent two ships to the Bay. The crews spent the winter in the
cramped and dismal Fort Charles, and in the spring they carried
on a brisk trade with the Indians. They took back a full cargo of
furs, which were put up for sale in the first public fur auction in
London at Garraway’s Inn in January, 1672.
Realizing the riches that awaited on the Bay, the company
lost no time in sending out three ships that summer. But this time
an unpleasant surprise awaited them. Nailed to the walls of Fort
Charles they found the royal arms of France! Two daring French¬
men had reached the fort overland from Quebec and had left the
plaque to show the English that in the future they could expect
some competition.
This certainly spurred the English on to strengthen their po¬
sition on the Bay. Within two years they built Fort Albany and
Moose Factory. To these they later added York Factory in 1682
and the short-lived Fort Severn in 1685.

French-English Rivalry over Hudson Bay

The French quickly responded to all this activity by renewing their
efforts to penetrate into the rich fur regions of the interior. At first
they turned west and built trading posts on the northern shores of
the Great Lakes. Later, they turned south along the Mississippi
and gradually won control of the lands all the way to the Gulf of
Mexico.
Of course, the French posts along the Mississippi posed no
threat to the Hudson's Bay Company. But once the French had
begun to probe to the North, there was bound to be trouble sooner
or later. Both the English and the French naturally tried to persuade
 35

cv ttft- h(> tt’tVuW' tiV.C"

'itiff1 £&uj.vj£ tffUi
*Hlv mkrfo t&i&w C &xt4\Jf'■**■' *>
•u.' !5UHVt'i" TH^u*it' fc»> »>'
i* ]? <• S' -ivTi-- ■ - -.-v »• »• wu*fc,i«,.u' iuw«m Hv" 3u‘l\m«Vr
^u-.-vbu r*auH> v****#- tu«t**s*u«* HuC' t¥i-dunr tn^t^w txsa^-.vu .<* ■*
i .yAvttvmtfru Wu fVv'mi st tfru*>vVin« vVni-uitiu v. iftiva «hu> CC>0^mil> ,*f '1 ritr UWCv." kHIHiS* erttstst'
1 ri^tVjto V«.\'titfc6cu <ht ^ mv>tn>« foj iWCnm <*ttv wi Kv' •i\nH\avtV p&vi-sf »&u*cttctfr fo: tV-V^no*'*
prt^it^c: tttfcoHvv£vuH» isct**u$ jp>*«v» fut>u«r tV>W' Tn-ttCX ' <snuu!£ttt& tW O&Ve .<*'- «vtt%
f|j.n'u|t,.VttH'U' £oui*.^{hv.tf cH*£ by Hvuv VuXuitUtsmr ‘m$r bft-tv
hdtv md*V I'ufi’i vVjn^VtXVr th* c\v „.?<<’
«£., few h> pc^av^ \wrtivf »u Puakttiuti’ ^ Kvuv.’\ • H> ttu!to>*
m4d ufviVv'f Hv*isd* utrtv t'u>£tH’C* fceifc' XCi’if. ■
* • $r«:d& UuigtVmF JfcuC* XX^t-VCtk^' *fv'Vtfu> xNuVU .. •\...L-i±V.—. , i'.v . ... v_L. l . \ i _... i..'» i. . it: .
brtCctV Vi llvsut> ^titHvtc cu&tuttc&uiy»*f m l$v‘.-w
I'ufo ttvtC? tbvMtV'’ tHttrs'Aln** tiv- dulLi* £>t:t*rX“ thV «♦.

j;\7U«x
%
^ui^tct'V _ ti _ __
v v; .. .* 4, f ^Hyy^u-. 3^Hni I^v-inujlnt i~Yt iViutft v>ust'3ut 4J\th. ch|
; ||5tvlt\vt<ut»i
x.
f>u:.|yc^
jLH>t»
.-^ v ^ttt«
u - - ■ -v
rtruC' Ah>
ffyt»K ihi^^ tv L. &«h.<c4 &«•&• rfvttaxuS rs-iUYmaiffct
.. .- jS*ih«ihi- tVttf tVv ehi> ^url> c'U'vttt5 tb* iS6a*f Cy*' tVtluiK.'5 mV Uv' *Vtu? Jz^ncixt fct* i#
iv\:' v'«v* <v^» i_ v'Ht'ittfe1 Aw> lTo(xh-)xi^ ui iXr*r^ k iV ut urtxus^ i'v Hv* titteuc* id5 Hw” CVnvtW; d-u^ ^ .'
]• T?3

.^unj^iceJuiV ^V^tr^tjVvs’ ^ui> tvrCvMtttttcutt nH»dt'ttdhuc ^

4^^. jmv tqttiit' X~ m>0* tHtOtt frfila\u* 5d£Vp* L thv^ tVSutuVul' tVu^ fvtv^tfc&uus^ rtuO fc? riv* d & t£mV
; t;iufruwi‘ v>Hv*iL~H>»ut l'v' Kv• .:Vjti.' nttuu- H>dh V Hviti .': itidV druvcft*»iic»H>itt Hv» ftJs'' Kvuv ; 'utcsj)>u‘ <«u
V C\>' tiv.' !*i«K' v^FIVvr -c\>iVi'iu>f diV C of tthttS'Ck v'f £Ttt«n T'rtKV:tu<r uih' uidv iv*t4§j
-- * aiii'lccfiV^ tt»)uvd-i'c‘ tft«*s fiv* th«ftxv*tivO rtuO llv ,V^,ikV> m Csuci rt-uO puhcs* 11 fci*:' tx;c t<
£ V. : 3> VppOO d-« 0 ^ ujfcLfC** tfilO Otivtc It< rtiV' duO Uitruiv'f STti,«t‘ ^"Hv.tis5 »} utUT-th* CtVu|St' duO X'r.iti:
•V ivt‘ of' 'vr ^tuCy* mtiuiv’ si A'y ,u mdinus tfruO fame’ tb5 tbiw oiriv;- sue L ic«v* jLV'pU' ^ Hm1 sui’
■^35 Vf s' u£rftH.O ly’iujR-
.jr rtiTx.‘ rtttO citvdOu-' m'L rtuv* ut<fv l>Axl'* ym'tlutp- t'Crsuv s.uuh* u‘h*vtu” ftuv’ Cf t ctiV
uujv ’ tfCtv'u djltmtv ' I'CcfttV'thWv’ 0.'Vt« VO \v> V‘ fit ltd duO v‘ tv fl' V * Hi 10 UTtirf HV' ‘tx th 0 U>
•t> IVi'j t*u ..S d u 0 •
i* fin0 Hv tl'lh illrio ritt.ix.'* rt xuisit- .tVtH'v' V i'v fiV*

First page of the Hudson s Bay Company Charter granted by King Charles II of
England in 1670.

the Indians to bring their furs to them; and they missed few chances
to attack their rivals’ forts. In these skirmishes, the French often
seemed to have the advantage. They were daring in their attacks
and they knew better than the English how to travel and survive
in the vast forests that reached almost to the shores of the Bay.
The English traders, on the other hand, showed little imag¬
ination. Just occasionally an Englishman would make a daring trip
to the interior. One such man was Henry Kelsey, who in 1690-
1692 got as far as The Pas in present-day Manitoba. Most of the
traders, though, made no attempt to explore the interior of the
country and were content to sit in their posts waiting each spring
for the Indians to bring down their furs. They would then barter
their trade goods—muskets, powder, tools and utensils—for furs
which they sent home to England for auction. It was a dreary life,
especially during the long and bitterly cold winter, and sometimes
36

they would get careless. This was when the French would strike.
The English soon began to realize that their long distance from
New France was no guarantee of safety from a daring enemy.
In 1686, for example, the French sent more than a hundred
men in thirty-five canoes to attack the English posts on James
Bay. They took the English traders at Moose Factory completely
by surprise in the middle of the night. The English, still clad only
in their nightshirts, put up a feeble resistance and soon surrendered.
Similar attacks occurred almost every year, and trading posts
regularly changed hands. Then, in 1697, the fighting moved dra¬
matically to the sea and became much more serious.

The first public auction of Hudson s Bay Company furs was held in 1672 in the
hall of Garraway s Inn, a famous London coffee house where the wits, beaux
and well-to-do merchants of the period gathered. Both the Prince of Wales and
the Duke of York were among the spectators, as were many other distinguished
men. A lighted candle on the auctioneer’s desk was the most common method of
limiting bids at fur auctions: when the flame went out, bidding ceased.
 37

Under orders from Governor Frontenac of New France, the

renowned Le Moyne d'Iberville led a fleet of five ships in a
determined attempt to clear the English from the Bay once and
for all. The French ships entered Hudson Strait only a day and
a half after four ships from England. When separated from his
other ships, dTberville spotted the English fleet and closed for
action. Though badly outnumbered and outgunned, he took on the
English ships single-handed and a bitter battle raged for four hours.
English guns and muskets raked the French ship, but d'Iberville
repelled all attempts to board. Then suddenly the tide of battle
turned. The largest English warship sank with the loss of 290 crew
members. A second ship surrendered, and a third escaped to the
mouth of the Nelson River. D'Iberville, determined to press home
his advantage, then laid seige to York Factory with a force of 900
men. After holding out for four days, the English garrison sur¬
rendered and marched out of the fort with the honors of war—
arms, drum and flag.
The French now held the best trading centre on Hudson Bay
while the English could only operate from Fort Albany on James
Bay. But the English still had one advantage. Their stronger navy
could prevent French ships from getting to and from York Factory.
Neither side was really winning, and the fur trade was declining
rapidly. In 1713, however, England and France made peace after
a long series of wars in Europe by signing the Treaty of Utrecht.
Under the terms of the treaty, the French finally recognized the
English claim to Hudson Bay. The Hudson's Bay Company now
regained its lost trading posts and could look forward to a future
free from direct French attack.
The removal of the French threat helped the Hudson's Bay
Company traders, but it also kept them lazy and contented. They
still showed little interest in exploration or in building inland forts.
The French, on the other hand, were planning for the future. They
had not really minded giving up their posts on the Bay because
they knew they would find it difficult to keep them supplied. The
overland route was far too long, and their navy was no match for
that of the English who could control all shipping into Hudson
Bay. But they were not prepared to sit back and let the English
 KILOMETRES

Map showing Canada’s main waterways. The shading outlines the Hudson Bay
drainage basin, that is, the territory granted to the Hudson’s Bay Company.
 39

have it all their own way. If the French could not compete on the
Bay, they would try other means to divert furs from the English.
This they could do by building inland posts much closer to the
Indians who supplied the furs. The Indians could surely be per¬
suaded to trade with a nearby French post rather than take their
furs hundreds of kilometres to the English posts on the Bay.

The French Establish Themselves in the Northwest

While the leaders of New France, men like Intendant Jean Talon
and Governor Frontenac, were building up the colony and making
it more secure, hundreds of traders, missionaries, soldiers and
Indians were exploring the vast unknown lands to the north, west
and south. At the same time that Groseilliers and Radisson were
paving the way for the English to the north, Talon decided on a
bold plan of expansion aimed at preventing the English colonists
on the Atlantic seaboard from moving westward across the Al¬
legheny Mountains. As early as 1670, Talon decided to claim for
France all the lands to the west which were still unclaimed. He
sent an officer, Daumont de Saint-Lusson, to Sault Ste. Marie,
which was an important crossroads of the three Upper Great Lakes.
There, in a dramatic and colorful ceremony, Saint-Lusson planted
a huge cross with the royal arms of France, raised his sword and
a sod of earth, and proclaimed French dominion to the assembled
and probably baffled Indians.
In this exciting period of the history of New France, the work
of the fur trader, the missionary and the explorer were all very
closely connected. Sometimes the missionary saw the opportunity
for trading; sometimes the fur trader became an explorer; some¬
times the explorer became a fur trader. In an incredible burst of
energy, New France explored and claimed half a continent-.
Louis Jolliet and the Jesuit priest, Jacques Marquette, dis¬
covered the Mississippi River in 1672 and descended it as far as
the Arkansas River. Then, ten years later, La Salle completed the
work by reaching the delta where the city of New Orleans stands
today. He dreamed of a great fur-trading empire stretching from
the Gulf of St. Lawrence to the Gulf of Mexico. Within twenty
years of his death in 1684, his dreams seemed to be coming true.
40

Although the exploration of the Mississippi led to French

domination of the vast area later known as Louisiana, the region
was not good fur country. The exploration of the Canadian prairies
was far more important for the fur trade. The key to this explo¬
ration, and possibly the key to a route to the long-sought western
sea, was Lake Winnipeg. This lake was the junction of the routes
to the west and the routes coming from the East. The French had
long known of this lake through Indian tradition. If they could
discover its exact location, they would have a strong base for
further exploration and for a vast extension of the fur trade.
Just a few years after Kelsey journeyed south from Hudson
Bay to the prairies, a great French explorer penetrated to the same
area by the route from Lake Superior. His name was Pierre Gaultier
de Varennes, Sieur de La Verendrye.

La Verendrye and his Sons Explore the West

La Verendrye grew up on his grandfather’s seigniory near Montreal
in the days when the danger of Indian attack was never far distant.
From men like La Salle, the famous explorer of the Mississippi,
and other visitors to the seigniory, young Pierre heard exciting
tales which stirred his restless and adventuresome spirit. At the
age of twelve he joined the local militia unit as a cadet, and by
the time he was twenty he was serving with the colonial troops.
In 1707, he sailed to France and enlisted in the regular army. He
took part in several battles, was wounded and taken prisoner.
Perhaps by this time, war had lost some of its appeal, for
in 1711 he suddenly returned to New France. He settled at Trois-
Rivieres and spent the next fifteen years trading for furs, raising
a family of four sons and two daughters, and learning all he could
from the Indians who brought him their furs.
The unknown western lands fascinated him, and in 1727 La
Verendrye joined his brother at Fort Ste. Anne on Lake Nipigon.
In the following year he became commander of the northern post
at Kaministikwia, and it was there that his plans gradually took
shape. He was excited by Indian reports of a great western lake
from which a river flowed farther west into yet another great lake.
Did this point the way to the western sea?
 41

Shortly after La Verendrye and his sons established their forts in the Northwest,
the Hudson’s Bay Company began sending out expeditions from its forts on the
Bay to contact the Indians and persuade them to bring down their furs to trade.
In 1754 Anthony Henday left York Factory and reached the foothills of the Rockies.
The first white man to meet the Blackfoot Indians, he is shown here entering their
camp near the present city of Red Deer, Alberta.

La Verendrye sought the support of the governor in Quebec.

Impressed by a rough sketch map showing possible routes to the
West, the governor gave his enthusiastic approval of an expedition,
as did the French government. But while they favored the proposed
expedition, they refused to pay for it. Instead, they granted La
Verendrye a monopoly of the fur trade in the Northwest. This
meant that he would have to borrow money against his expected
profits. Once again the fur trade was to pay for government plans.
This was disappointing to La Verendrye, for it meant that
he would not be able to press onward as fast as he would have
liked. The people who lent him money wanted to be sure that they
made a profit or at least got their money back. La Verendrye
42

would have to stop and build forts to maintain and strengthen the
fur trade.
At last his preparations were complete. Accompanied by three
of his sons, Jean-Baptiste, Pierre and Frangois, and by his nephew,
Christophe de La Jemerais, he left Montreal in June, 1731, and
made his way rapidly to the mouth of the Pigeon River, south of
Kaministikwia. There, he spent the winter gathering furs.
Over the next three years, La Verendrye and his party busily
explored routes to the West and established forts at strategic
points—Fort St. Pierre on Rainy Lake, Fort St. Charles on Lake
of the Woods and Fort Maurepas on the shores of Lake Winnipeg.
Whenever he stopped, he always reminded the Indians that it was
essential for them to bring him furs of all kinds and in good supply.
After all, he warned them, they needed his trade goods and it cost
a lot to bring these all the way from Montreal.
After a quick visit to Quebec in 1734, La Verendrye returned
to the West the following year, only to meet growing misfortunes.
His nephew took ill and died, then his son Jean-Baptiste was killed
by a band of Sioux at Lake of the Woods. Although greatly upset.
La Verendrye continued his work undaunted. He set out with two
of his sons in 1738 to penetrate farther west. Pushing quickly
ahead, they built Fort La Reine on the Assiniboine River and Fort
Rouge on the site of the modern city of Winnipeg. From Fort
Rouge they turned south to the land of the Mandans on the banks
of the Missouri. There, they were lured on by stories of white
people living farther downriver. When told, however, that it would
take an entire summer to reach these people, La Verendrye re¬
luctantly decided to return home. Convinced that the Missouri
flowed southwest, he felt sure that he had found the route to the
elusive western sea. He decided to continue his exploration later.
Fort La Reine became the party’s base in 1741. From there
his son Pierre travelled north and built Fort Dauphin on Lake
Manitoba and Fort Bourbon on the northern part of Lake Winnipeg.
Two other sons, Louis-Joseph and Frangois, pushed farther west
and may well have seen the foothills of the Rockies before returning
to Fort Maurepas in 1743. In that year, burdened with debts, La
Verendrye returned home to face his creditors. Only later did he
Map of western Canada with the most important trading posts established by the
La Verendryes and the North West and Hudson s Bay companies.
44

begin to receive the fame due to him for his incredible exploits.
The La Verendryes were a remarkable family and their
achievements were equally remarkable. With unbounded courage
and indomitable spirit, they pushed farther west than any previous
explorer. With only half-hearted support from the government and
in face of the jealous plots of the fur traders in New France, they
opened up a vast area to French influence and French trade. Their
string of forts reached all the way to the Saskatchewan River and
were so well placed that the Indians could easily bring their furs
there and save themselves the long and often dangerous journey
to the English posts on Hudson Bay.
Later, other French traders improved the portages and trails
and organized an efficient system of supplying food and goods
to these outlying forts by building a large trading centre at Ka-
ministikwia to store goods brought out from Montreal during the
short summer season.
Thus, in the continuing competition for furs, the French,
largely through the efforts of La Verendrye and his sons, had
greatly strengthened their position against the English. Trade im¬
proved, and the sale of furs in France increased.
But just as New France was about to reap the benefits of its
expanded trade, the colony suddenly faced its most serious threat.
War broke out in North America between Britain and France, and
the French faced superior military and naval forces. On September
13, 1759, Wolfe defeated Montcalm at the Battle of the Plains
of Abraham. New France was soon to pass under British rule.
Two Great Companies
Chapter

New France became a British colony in 1763. This removed the

French threat to the Hudson's Bay Company. But the Montreal
merchants who had previously invested in the fur trade were still
eager for business, and the long string of fur-trading posts reaching
far out to the West were still standing. What would happen now
to this vast fur-trading organization with its employees, its forts,
its trails and portages and its supply system?
Experienced traders soon saw their chance. Many came north
from the New England colonies to join those already in Montreal.
They realized that they could not work very effectively by them¬
selves, so they soon formed partnerships. Some of these partner¬
ships were quite small and consisted of just a few traders who
divided up the work: one might get the furs, another would sell
them, and a third would look after supplies.
These adventurous traders quickly fell under the spell of the
great northwest, a largely unknown land of possible danger but
also of great profit. The more daring soon reached the area around
Lake Winnipeg, and when they returned to Montreal with rich
loads of furs, the rush to the West really began. Adventure and
profit spurred them on, and nothing was going to stop them as
they reoccupied the forts built by the La Verendryes and pushed
even farther north and west.
Sometimes they would meet men of the Hudson’s Bay Com¬
pany who reminded them that they were trespassing on lands
belonging to their company by the charter of 1670. This did not
worry the new traders. They felt that they not only had a right to
45
This half-size birchbark canoe could carry two tonnes of supplies in addition to
the crew. The packages, or pieces, each weighed forty-two kilograms. Notice the
use of the tumpline, or forehead band, to steady and support the pieces.

the abandoned French posts, but also a right to trade wherever

they wanted. They would not obey laws which could not be en¬
forced.
This flurry of activity had one drawback. Because the new
traders were often working in very small groups, there was keen
competition between them. This, of course, helped the Indians,
who could haggle over the value of the furs they were selling and
hold out for top prices. The traders soon realized that they would
do better if they joined forces. In that way they would pay less
for the furs and the Indians would pay more for their trade goods.
The only alternative the Indians had was to go all the way to the
Hudson’s Bay Company posts on the Bay.
 47

The North West Company

After a time, a number of these trading groups formed the North
West Company. This company was very different from the Hud¬
son's Bay Company. It had no charter from the king; it had no
large number of shareholders in Britain. It was really more like
a series of partnerships which joined together to help each other.
Some of the partners naturally had more influence than others,
and they were the ones who usually decided what should be done.
The new company started in 1783, the year in which the
American colonists became independent from Britain and there¬
fore could no longer take part in the fur trade in Canada. But
although the company had no great fear of American rivals, it did
have several competitors within Canada. The most important of
these was the New North West Company, founded at Montreal
in 1798 and popularly known as the XY Company. It took this
name in order to avoid confusion with the North West Company,
which used the letters NW to label its goods. The new company
simply adopted the next two letters after W and marked its goods
XY. For several years there was bitter hostility, which ended only
when the two companies merged in 1804. When that happened,
the North West Company reorganized on the basis of 100 shares,
of which the former XY Company received 25.
Perhaps because so many of the North West traders were
used to keen competition from their rivals, they were imaginative,
hard working and often ruthless. They were working for them¬
selves, not to make profits for shareholders in Britain, and they
threw themselves wholeheartedly into their business.
The officers and men of the Hudson's Bay Company, still
sitting in their posts on Hudson Bay, often laughed at the
Nor’Westers, as the North West Company traders were called.
They sneeringly termed them “pedlars' because they did so much
of the carrying of goods and furs, while the Hudson's Bay men
simply waited for the Indians to bring in their furs and carry away
their trade goods.
Although the Hudson’s Bay men might sneer at the
Nor’Westers, they had had to begin changing their ways. The
inland forts of their trade rivals were attracting many Indians who
48

Samuel Hearne builds Cumberland House, 1774-75. This was the first inland
trading post built by the Hudson s Bay Company and was situated in modern
Saskatchewan. Here Hearne discusses the building plans with the carpenter. Note
the log tent in which Hearne and his men spent the winter.

might otherwise have gone to the Bay. After sitting for a hundred
years on the shores of the Bay, the company men had finally
realized they would have to move inland if they were to beat back
the competition. They had taken the first step in 1774. Samuel
Hearne had just returned from his epic journey to the shores of
the Arctic Ocean, and the company sent him to build its first
inland trading post, Cumberland House, on the Saskatchewan
River.
The competition between the Hudson’s Bay and North West
companies gradually grew bitter. The Nor’Westers built up a very
efficient organization in order to challenge the well-established
 49

older company. But they had a much bigger problem in getting

supplies to their traders and taking the furs back to headquarters.
The Hudson’s Bay Company enjoyed the comparatively short
supply route of only 700 kilometres between York Factory, where
the ocean-going supply ship arrived each summer, and Norway
House at the northern end of Lake Winnipeg. From Norway
House, two main routes ran 500 kilometres to Cumberland House
and 600 kilometres to Fort Rouge at the junction of the Red and
Assiniboine rivers. Both these routes were relatively short and
simple, although at times they could be dangerous.
The North West Company, on the other hand, faced a more
difficult situation. The Athabasca region, which was extremely
rich in furs and which was just being opened up, was 6000 kil¬
ometres from the company headquarters in Montreal. Not only
that, but there were only five months between spring break-up and
winter freeze-up, and the large freight canoes could average only
2000 kilometres a month. Adding to the problem was the fact that
the large canoes suitable for the main rivers and the Great Lakes
were far too big for the smaller rivers and for the portages to the
west of Lake Superior. The company tackled these difficulties
with imagination.
The headquarters of the North West Company remained in
Montreal. Every spring, brigades of canoes left nearby Lachine
bound for the West and fully laden with trade goods, food and
supplies. Their immediate destination was Fort William, which
became the western headquarters of the company in 1804. Here,
each summer, the Montreal partners arrived to meet and discuss
company business with the ‘'wintering partners,” who spent the
winter in the West. Fort William stood on the site of Fort Ka-
ministikwia on the western shore of Lake Superior. An impressive
trading centre covering many hectares, it became the supply centre
or entrepot for all the western fur trade. Each summer, Fort Wil¬
liam’s thriving little community burst into feverish activity when
the brigades of canots de maitre arrived carrying essential supplies
and trade goods from Montreal. The trade goods included a wide
variety of items that the Indians wanted—muskets, shot, gun¬
powder, cloth, blankets, knives, needles, thread, kettles, tobacco
50

For many years Fort William was the North West Company’s most important
depot. Its buildings included a large house for the partner in charge, a council
house, a doctor’s residence, several buildings to accommodate workmen and
traders from the interior, a forge and various other workshops, extensive stores
for trading goods and furs, and even a jail (familiarly known as the pot au beurre,
“pot of butter”). Outside the walls were a shipyard, where the company’s vessels
were built and repaired, and a farm, where grain and vegetables were grown
and animals raised for domestic use. The reconstructed fort pictured here is about
twenty kilometres from the original site at Thunder Bay.
 51

and brandy. At the same time, the smaller canoes laden with furs
arrived from the outlying fur posts. Both parties met at Fort Wil¬
liam, where a month was allowed for the crews to rest and for
the company servants to sort and repack the furs and supplies. An
exception was made for the crews bringing furs from Athabasca.
They could not possibly get all the way to Fort William and back
before the rivers and lakes froze over. To supply these men, several
Montreal canoes went as far as the forwarding post at Lac La
Pluie (Rainy Lake) where they exchanged their goods for furs and
then returned to Montreal.
Company officers knew by experience almost exactly what
supplies and food were needed for each part of the long route
west. From Fort William to Lac la Pluie, for example, the ration
for each canoe of five men consisted of “two bags of corn Wi
bushel each and 15 lb of grease." For longer trips, of course, they
needed many more supplies, and all of these had to be taken from
the stores at Fort William.

The Voyageurs
The North West Company depended for its very existence on the
many thousands of kilometres of waterways reaching, far west
from Montreal, first to Fort William and then to the Athabasca
country. The hero of these waterways was the voyageur.
The voyageurs were the men who paddled the canoes or
rowed the larger boats which carried men and supplies over the
rivers and lakes far to the north and west. They were usually
French-Canadian or Metis, and they led a colorful but hard life.
An army officer who travelled from Lachine to St. Joseph in 1798
wrote:

No men in the world are more severely worked than are these
Canadian voyageurs. 1 have known them to work in a canoe twenty
hours out of twenty-four, and go at that rate during a fortnight or
three weeks without a day of rest . . . They smoke almost inces¬
santly, and sing peculiar songs, which are the same their fathers
and grandfathers and probably their great grandfathers sang before
them . . . They rest from five to ten minutes every two hours,
when they refill their pipes; it is more common for them to describe
distances by so many pipes, than in any other way.
52

Many travellers wrote or told stories about voyageurs and com¬

mented on their bright woven sashes, or ceintures flechees, and
their rhythmic songs. But their daily routine, when on a trip, was
extremely demanding and the trips often lasted as many as six or
eight weeks. They were roused as early as two or three in the
morning. Unless there were rapids just ahead, they started off
without breakfast, which they did not get until about eight. The
midday meal often consisted of nothing more than a piece of
pemmican to chew as they continued to paddle. Then, usually
between eight and ten in the evening, depending on the light, they
made camp and ate their supper. Exhausted after the long day’s
paddling, the men would enjoy a quiet smoke and then try to get
some sleep. They lay on the ground with their heads under the
overturned canoe, sheltered from the rain by a tarpaulin. They
were constantly tormented by insects, especially mosquitoes and
black flies, but they got some relief by lighting smudges a few
paces away. These were fires piled high with damp moss or green
leaves so that they gave off a dense, acrid smoke.
Apart from the long days of paddling and the many discom¬
forts, there were also many real dangers, particularly at rapids and
at the more difficult portages. Then the voyageurs, carrying two
pieces of 40 kilograms each or helping to carry an inverted 300-
kilogram canot de maitre, had to struggle over rocks and through
bogs and icy water. Many a voyageur died from injuries or from
drowning. When this happened, his comrades buried him on the
side of the trail and erected a crude wooden cross over his grave.
To many travellers, the voyageurs were the heroes of the fur
trade, but to others they were very human people with many faults.
Daniel Harmon, who spent twenty years in the fur trade, got to
know the voyageurs very well. He praised them for their willing¬
ness to “submit to great privation and hardship, not only without
complaining, but even with cheerfulness and gaiety.” He also,
however, described them as fickle, thoughtless, improvident, de¬
ceitful and vain. Like all people, in other words, the voyageurs
had their good and their bad points. But they were essential to the
fur trade, and they did their job well. John Jacob Astor, the
prominent American fur trader, knew all their faults but still said
 53

PEMMICAN

Like the food given to modern astronauts, pemmican was con¬

centrated, nutritious and easily preserved. Paul Kane, the fa¬
mous painter who travelled through western Canada in the
1840s, left one of the best descriptions of how pemmican was
made from buffalo meat:

The thin slices of dried meat are pounded between two stones
until the fibres separate; about 50 lbs. of this are put into a
bag of buffalo skin, with about 40 lbs. of melted fat, and mixed
together while hot, and sewed up, forming a hard and com¬
pact mass; hence its name in the Cree language, pimmi
signifying meat, and kon, fat . . . One pound of this is con¬
sidered egual to four pounds of ordinary meat, and the pem¬
mican keeps for years perfectly good exposed to any weather.

In the more northern regions moose meat was often used

instead of buffalo, and later in the Rockies and nearer the west
coast, the meat of sheep was used. Although the traders and
voyageurs got used to the taste of pemmican and probably
liked it, most other travellers did not. The Earl of Southesk, who
travelled into the Rocky Mountains in 1860, left this comment:
Had ‘berry-pemmican’ at supper. That is to say, the ordinary
buffalo pemmican, with Saskatoom berries sprinkled through
it at the time of making,—which acts as currant jelly does with
venison, correcting the greasiness of the fat by a slightly acid
sweetness . . . Berry-pemmican is usually the best of its kind,
but poor is the best. Take scrapings from the driest outside
corner of a very stale piece of cold roast beef, add to it lumps
of tallowy rancid fat, then garnish all with long human hairs
(on which string pieces, like beads, upon a necklace), and
short hairs of oxen, or dogs, or both,—and you have a fair
imitation of common pemmican, though I should rather sup¬
pose it to be less nasty. Pemmican is most endurable when
uncooked. My men used to fry it with grease, sometimes
stirring-in flour, and making a flabby mess, called “rubaboo,”
which I found almost uneatable.
54

that he would prefer one Canadian voyageur to any three others!

The Beaver Club

The men of the North West Company were determined, vigorous,
boisterous and often ruthless, and they showed something of this
spirit in the meetings of the famous Beaver Club in Montreal.
Founded in 1785, it at first had nineteen members who had all
wintered in the Northwest. Later the club increased to fifty-five
members who met regularly every two weeks throughout the win¬
ter. They developed an elaborate set of rules, and those who broke
them had to pay their fines in bottles of wine. They all dutifully
wore their large gold medals at the Club meetings where they sat
down to several hours of wining and dining. The climax to the
evening was the “Grand Voyage.” All the members sat on the
floor in a row, as if they were in a great canoe, and made paddling
motions while singing rousing voyageur songs. It was a noisy and
often a drunken evening. At one meeting in 1808, for example,
thirty-one members and guests drank twenty-nine bottles of Mad¬
eira and nineteen bottles of port! But amid all their boisterous
celebrations, they did not forget the people to whom they owed
their success. They always drank five traditional toasts: to the
mother of all the saints; the king; the fur trade in all its branches;
voyageurs, wives and children; and absent friends.

The Great Explorers of the Northwest

The Nor’Westers were ambitious men. Not content with pene¬
trating deep into the Northwest, they were determined to reach
the shores of the Arctic Ocean and to cross the barriers of the
Rockies to the Pacific coast. As always, fur trading and exploring
went hand in hand, and the NoLWesters gave Canada some of
its greatest explorers.
Without any doubt the three greatest were Alexander Mack¬
enzie, Simon Fraser and David Thompson. But another man, Peter
Pond, prepared the way for them. Pond, born in Connecticut,
came north and began trading in furs on the Saskatchewan River
in 1775. Three years later he crossed the Methye Portage from
the Churchill River to the Athabasca and penetrated into the in-
 55

credibly rich fur region that lay to the north. He may even have
gone as far north as Great Slave Lake. Not only did he explore
this new area, but he also proved the importance of pemmican as
a staple food. Fur traders in the south could always shoot wild
game if they ran out of food, but this became more difficult the
farther north they went. There were fewer animals and the voy-
ageurs could certainly not count on them for food. They really
needed some kind of food that they could easily take with them.

Alexander Mackenzie
Alexander Mackenzie joined the North West Company in 1787
and was soon put in charge of the Athabasca region, where he
supervised the building of Fort Chipewyan. From there, in 1789,
he set out on the first of his great explorations, reaching the Arctic
Ocean by the river which now bears his name. He, however,
called it the River of Disappointment, for he had been seeking a
river that flowed west to the Pacific.
Mackenzie was a great leader of men and a determined ex¬
plorer, however. After a brief visit to England in 1791 to buy
better navigational instruments, he returned to the Northwest, and
two years later he set off again to seek a passage through the
mountains to the Pacific.
Entering the mighty Peace River, Mackenzie and his com¬
panions paddled upstream against a strong current and the bitter
cold of October. At a point in the upper reaches of the river, they
built a small fort and settled down for the winter.
By next April Mackenzie was busy trading for furs and build¬
ing new canoes. Sending the fur-laden canoes back to Fort Chi¬
pewyan, he then resumed his journey with six of his most loyal
and dependable voyageurs. Battling rapids, cascades and falls,
and often portaging through great forests of spruce, birch and
poplar, they finally reached the Continental Divide—the point in
the Rocky Mountains which divides the rivers flowing east and
the rivers flowing west. They were the first Europeans to cross
the Divide north of the Spanish territories. A portage of over eight
hundred paces brought them to a small lake from which the waters
flowed to the Pacific. But their troubles were not yet over. Strong
56

On his second great

voyage of exploration,
Alexander Mackenzie
became the first white
man to reach the Pa¬
cific Ocean overland
north of Mexico.

currents and rocks smashed the frail birchbark canoes, and they
constantly had to stop and patch them before they could continue
their journey. At last they reached the big river they sought, the
Fraser. When they realized that it must enter the Pacific far to the
south of where they had hoped, Mackenzie decided to make his
final trek overland to the coast, using whatever smaller streams
he could find. At last he reached the Dean River and finally Dean
Channel, where he left the following inscription on a rock: ‘‘Alex¬
ander Mackenzie, from Canada, by land, the twenty-second of
July, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-three.”
Mackenzie had reached the Pacific Ocean. The route proved
to be too difficult for trade, but he had nevertheless accomplished
a monumental task. In two great journeys he had opened up a
route to the Far North through some of the best fur-producing
regions in the world, and he had led the way and inspired others
to seek a practical route to the west coast. Both Simon Fraser and
David Thompson followed his lead.
 57

Fraser and Thompson

In 1805 and 1806 Fraser established the first trading posts ever
placed within the present boundaries of British Columbia. These
were Fort McLeod and the famous Fort St. James, which later
became the capital of the fur-trading district of New Caledonia.
Fraser thus extended the North West Company’s activities to the
territory west of the Rocky Mountains, but his greatest accom¬
plishment was perhaps the exploration in 1808 of the river later
named after him. The journey, filled with difficulties and danger,
was an extraordinary feat. Nonetheless, its results were a disap¬
pointment both to Fraser, who had thought he was descending the
Columbia, and to the North West Company, because the river was
too treacherous to serve as a trade route.
David Thompson crossed the Rockies in 1807 and built the
first trading post on the Columbia River at Kootenay House. Four
years later he descended the mighty river to its mouth, where to
his intense disappointment, he found that the Americans had al¬
ready built a trading post, Fort Astoria. Thompson was the first
white man to travel the full length of the Columbia River. A
greater achievement, however, than his actual explorations was
his careful surveying of all the land he travelled through. In all,
he accurately mapped the main travel routes through more than
four million square kilometres of territory, and his work formed
the basis for all later maps of the West.

The Competition for Furs Intensifies

Fur traders from several nations had already established themselves
on the Pacific coast. Russian traders in Alaska had found a ready
market in China for their harvest of sea-otter. Captain Cook had
explored much of the coast northward from Vancouver Island and
traded for sea-otter with the Indians at Nootka. Other adventurers
soon followed in the hope of making quick profits, and the com¬
petition intensified. In 1811, John Jacob Astor organized the Pa¬
cific Fur Company to obtain control of the flourishing fur trade
with China, which was then the world’s richest fur market. That
same year the company established Fort Astoria at the mouth of
the Columbia River. The Nor’Westers, however, proved to be the
58

most determined and the most successful. In 1813 they bought

Fort Astoria from the Americans and won unrivalled control of
the coastal fur trade from the Columbia River to Alaska.
Nonetheless, the rival Hudson’s Bay Company was far from
idle. Its traders had been slow to react to the threat posed by the
Nor’Westers because all important decisions were made in London
by men who had no first-hand knowledge of the country. Finally,
however, they became more aggressive.
For some years Cumberland House remained their only im¬
portant inland post. Then, in an incredible burst of energy, they
built nineteen more inland posts by 1802. Many of these were
little more than huts or small warehouses which could be aban¬
doned when they were no longer required. Others were more
impressive and were built at key locations. Most, whether large
or small, stood very close to forts of the North West Company.
As the Hudson’s Bay Company extended its posts into the
interior, competition became keener and the rival traders seldom
missed a chance to cheat their opponents. But they rarely came
to blows. Daniel Harmon, a Nor’Wester, described in his journal
a visit he paid to Fort Alexandria on the Assiniboine River in
1805:
Last evening Mr. Chaboillez (manager N.W. Company) invited
the people of the other two forts to a dance; and we had a real
North-West country ball. When three-fourths of the people had
drunk so much as to be incapable of walking straight the other
fourth thought it was time to put an end to the ball, or rather bawl.
This morning we were invited to breakfast at the Hudson’s Bay
House with a Mr. McKay and in the evening to a dance. This,
however, ended more decently than the one of the preceding eve¬
ning.
This spirit of keen but not unfriendly rivalry lasted until 1811
when the London Committee of the Hudson’s Bay Company made
a decision which altered the whole future of the fur trade in western
Canada.
In that year Thomas Douglas, earl of Selkirk, bought control
of the Hudson’s Bay Qompany. A kind man, Selkirk was con¬
cerned about the poor Scottish crofters who were being forced off
their land to make way for more profitable sheep grazing. To help
 59

them, he had already established colonies in eastern Canada where

they could be re-settled. Now he turned his attention to the rich
agricultural lands at the junction of the Red and Assiniboine rivers
in present-day Manitoba. He purchased from the Hudson’s Bay
Company a huge area of 300,000 square kilometres which was
to be called Assiniboia. Within a year, the first group of settlers
arrived by way of York Factory.
This was almost like a declaration of war against the
Nor’Westers. Assiniboia lay across their main route to the West.
This area was also the main source of buffalo pemmican, the staple
food of the voyageurs. Seeing their future threatened, the
Nor’Westers sought allies. They found them in the Metis, who
feared that a farming settlement would destroy their semi-nomadic
way of life. Troubles came to a head in 1816 when a combined
force of Nor’Westers and Metis destroyed the main settlement
and killed its governor. Only the arrival of Selkirk himself in the
following year ensured the future of the colony.
The competition between the two companies became more
and more violent. Both suffered, and eventually only one course
of action seemed reasonable: the two companies agreed to unite.
The long rivalry was over.
The New Hudson’s Bay Company
Chapter

The union of the two rival companies took place in 1821. Despite
their competition, which had for several years been violent, they
were ready for the union. Quarrels between the Montreal partners
and the wintering partners had weakened the North West Com¬
pany, and the Hudson's Bay Company was weary of the long and
bitter struggle which disrupted business and lessened profits. In
addition, the British government wanted an end to strife which
set British subjects against each other and which was gradually
ruining the lucrative fur trade.

The Hudson’s Bay Company Reorganizes

The agreement of 1821 was worked out in London by represen¬
tatives of both companies. They united under the name of the
Hudson’s Bay Company, and the headquarters remained in Eng¬
land, where final decisions would be made by the London Com¬
mittee. But the new company differed from the old in one important
way: now, as in the old North West Company, the actual traders
would have a voice in its running and would share in the annual
profits.
The company received a twenty-one-year monopoly of the
trade in Rupert s Land, which it ruled, and also in the lands to
the far Northwest. With these grants, the company virtually con¬
trolled all of modern Canada from Ontario to the Rocky Mountains,
and it still had trading posts in northern Quebec and Labrador as
well. Nor was this all. In 1818 the British and American govern¬
ments agreed to open to people of both countries the land west
60
 61

of the Rocky Mountains between Russian Alaska and Mexican

California. This vast area was called the Oregon Territory. Within
it, the British government gave its trading rights to the new com¬
pany.
The company naturally faced some difficult problems at first.
Because it had taken over all the trading posts of both former
companies, it now had far more posts than it really needed. By
1821 the Nor’Westers had ninety-seven posts and the Hudson’s
Bay Company seventy-six. Many of these would have to be closed.
Where there were two posts within a few kilometres of each other
(and many were even closer than that), it was common sense to
keep the one that was in better repair and to abandon the other.
But when a post was closed, it meant that the trader and other
employees would be out of a job.
The hatred between the employees of the two companies also
posed a difficult problem. When a Nor Wester had just spent ten
years of his life fighting the men of the Hudson’s Bay Company,
it was hard for him suddenly to forget all this and to work with
his former rivals as colleagues. If the Nor’Westers were to work
efficiently, they must feel at home in the new company and know
exactly what their duties were.
Partly for this reason, the 1821 agreement ordered a reor¬
ganization of the company. In the West there were to be two large
regional departments: the Southern Department, ruled from Moose
Factory, and the larger and more important Northern Department,
ruled from different centres—usually York Factory, Norway House
or Fort Garry. Each department had a governor who was in charge
of all the fur-trading districts within the department.
The company had two ranks of officers or “commissioned
gentlemen’ ’ who, like the wintering partners of the old North West
Company, shared in the profits and in the running of the company.
At first there were twenty-five chief factors and twenty-eight chief
traders. Thirty-two of these had been Nor’Westers. Each year the
governor met with his council, which included the chief factors
of the department, to decide on transfers, promotions, prices,
methods of improving trade and any other problems that came up
during the year. The chief factors had a lot of influence, and only
62

Nicholas Garry, a London director of the Hudson s Bay Company, came to

Canada in 1821 to help unite the rival companies. He travelled widely and is
shown here with Simon McGillivray (with glasses) of the North West Company,
James Bird of the Hudson s Bay Company and a clerk at Slave Falls on the
Winnipeg River. Upper and Lower Fort Garry on the Red River were named in
his honor.

a very strong governor would be able to impose his will on them.

George Simpson was such a man.

Sir George Simpson

George Simpson was born in the north of Scotland. Orphaned at
an early age, he went to live with his aunt, who sent him to a
nearby school where he learned to read, write, do simple arith¬
metic and keep accounts accurately. There were few opportunities
in that part of Scotland, however, so at the age of fourteen young
Simpson followed the example of many others who had left to
 63

seek work in the larger towns and cities. But he was luckier than
many, for he was given a job by an uncle who ran a trading
company in London. In 1820, just when he was tiring of the
monotonous work and yearning for a more exciting life, luck again
came to his rescue. Two of his uncle’s partners were related to
Lord Selkirk, through whose influence they could get him into
the Hudson's Bay Company. Simpson jumped at the chance to
leave England for a new and adventurous life in Rupert’s Land.
Soon after Simpson arrived in Montreal, he learned that the
Nor’Westers had seized the company’s chief officer in the Ath¬
abasca district. Simpson immediately offered to take his place at
Fort Wedderburn, a small post on an island in Lake Athabasca.
There, he quickly learned about the fur trade and took steps to
improve the discipline of the men in the smaller posts under his
control.
Simpson soon experienced at first hand the bitter hostility
of the Nor’Westers, whose Fort Chipewyan stood only a very
short distance from Fort Wedderburn. Angered at their constant
harassment, he forcibly arrested the leading Nor’Wester, Simon
McGillivray. Although McGillivray escaped in the middle of the
night back to Fort Chipewyan, Simpson had shown that he was
capable of taking quick and firm action when necessary. He spent
only one year in Athabasca. When he left the post in the spring
to take his furs to York Factory, he learned that the two companies
had united and that the long and bitter rivalry was over at last.
The new company, obviously impressed by his handling of
affairs at Fort Wedderburn, appointed Simpson governor of the
Northern Department. This gave authority over the vast area
stretching from Hudson Bay to the Pacific coast to a man with
only one year of experience in the fur trade. But his lack of
experience was probably an advantage. He knew enough to un¬
derstand the need for efficiency and decisive action, but he had
not been involved long enough to make many enemies.
The officers of the new company first met at York Factory
late in 1821, and Governor Simpson quickly showed his ability
to overcome old hostilities. One trader who was present at that
first meeting recalled many years later exactly what happened.
64

A portrait of Sir George Simpson in his later years. Although used to a rugged
life, Simpson enjoyed formality and was conscious of the important position he
held.
 65

This first social meeting of the superior officers . . . had some

peculiar features, owing to the bitter feelings of the guests who
had for many years been keen trade competitors, and sometimes
personal antagonists in willing combat. The “proud Northwest
bucks”—mostly Highlandmen—had been stalking about the old
fort . . . not trying to converse with the Hudson’s Bayites. It was
“dollars to doughnuts”—as the saying is—whether the entertain¬
ment would be a “feed” or a “fight.” Fortunately the governor
in chief, Mr. (afterwards Sir George) Simpson . . . was present,
endeavouring by courtesy and tact to complete his work . . . The
two sections of the guests . . . kept wholly apart until the new
governor moving in the throng with bows, smiles and introductions,
brought about some conversation or handshaking between individ¬
uals . . .

It was appropriate that this meeting took place at York Factory.

Now that the companies were united, the northern route through
Hudson Bay and York Factory became the main supply route for
the entire fur trade. The old Nor’Westers’ route from Montreal
through the Great Lakes was now used mainly for the express
canoes which carried passengers and mail. With this change, Fort
William lost much of its importance and soon became just another
trading post.
The new governor of the Northern Department immediately
set about making the business much more efficient. He focused
first on Rupert’s Land, where both former companies had built
trading posts. Many of these he now closed. Then he reduced the
number of employees by dismissing unsatisfactory or newly-joined
servants and by offering pensions to encourage many senior men
to retire. He tightened discipline by fining those who broke com¬
pany rules and by dismissing promptly any servant guilty of serious
misconduct.
Simpson stayed in Rupert’s Land for nearly three years. Then,
once he had reorganized and improved the trade there, he turned
his attention to the lands west of the Rockies known as the Co¬
lumbia District, where there was stiff competition from the Rus¬
sians and the Americans. In 1824, convinced by what he had heard
that trading was carried on very inefficiently there, he sent out
a former Nor’Wester, the energetic John McLoughlin as chief
66

factor. But Simpson could not rest until he had seen things for
himself. Leaving York Factory three weeks after McLoughlin, he
travelled so fast that he caught up with him, much to McLoughlin’s
annoyance!
When he reached Fort George on the Fraser River, Simpson
immediately made some drastic changes: he retired unwanted em¬
ployees with pensions, encouraged traders to grow more of their
own food at the trading posts and reduced the prices paid to the
Indians for their furs. After a short but hectic visit, he returned
just as rapidly to Fort Garry.
Fast travel was typical of Simpson. For this he depended on
his voyageurs, and he was never happier than when he was speed¬
ing along the countless waterways and sharing their hardships.
Sometimes he announced his trips well in advance, but more often
he just set off without prior warning. Many a trader kept on his
toes through fear of one of his sudden unexpected visits. Every¬
where he went, he was quick to reprimand laziness or bad behavior
and was equally quick to spot ways to make the trading more
profitable. He encouraged the use of new and quicker routes, and
he introduced the sturdy York boats to replace the frail freight
canoes.
As he sped between trading posts Simpson kept busy dictating
notes to his secretary, who travelled with him, and making entries
in his Book of Servants’ Characters. This was the book in which
he recorded what he really thought about the company employ¬
ees—how efficient they were and what their good and bad qualities
were. In case the book fell into the wrong hands, he identified
his entries only by number. A separate sheet contained both names
and numbers, so a person would have to have both book and sheet
in order to decipher the contents.
Simpson was aware, too, of the need to find new supplies
of furs and to safeguard existing ones. He therefore encouraged
both exploration and careful conservation. When beaver or other
fur-bearing animals were becoming scarce in an area, he rec¬
ommended an end to trapping for several years until the number
of animals had again increased. Only once did he oppose con¬
servation. When he thought that the Americans would soon take
 67

In October 1828, Governor Simpson and Chief Trader Archibald McDonald set
out to discover whether or not it was true that the Fraser River could never be
used as a trade route. They are seen here shooting the rapids above the present
town of Yale, only one of the many times the travellers were in danger of being
flung into the raging torrent. Simpson later wrote, “/ should consider the passage
down to be certain Death in nine attempts out of ten.”
68

The spring brigade leaves Lachine, near Montreal, for the West. The warehouse
stood across the Lachine canal from the Hudson s Bay Company headquarters.
An express canoe is just moving out, and three freight canoes are being loaded
on the far bank. After 1821 this route was only occasionally used for heavy
freight, most of which went via York factory.
 69

over large parts of the Oregon Territory, he suggested that the

company strip it bare of furs before abandoning its posts.
Simpson’s businesslike methods had soon impressed the Lon¬
don Committee, and when Governor Williams of the Southern
Department retired in 1826, he was appointed to head both de¬
partments. In 1839, he became governor-in-chief. Altogether,
Simpson ruled the Hudson’s Bay Company with ruthless effi¬
ciency for nearly forty years. His domineering manner and his
short stature earned him the appropriate nickname of “the Little
Emperor.’’ During these years the fur trade remained efficient and
profitable. It also became more stable—trading procedures were
well established and life in the fur-trade forts became more settled.

Hudson’s Bay Company Trading Procedures

Trading procedures did not vary greatly from those used years
before by the two rival companies, although they differed slightly
from post to post. If the trader did not understand or trust the
Indians with whom he was dealing, he would take extra precau¬
tions. When the Indians came to the fort, they first entered a
waiting room with a connecting hallway into the trading room.
They then went two at a time into the trading room with its stout
protective barrier. Only when they had completed their trading
and left were two more admitted.
But this was not the usual method. Once the two parties
trusted each other, the trading was far more open and friendly.
At the larger forts there was quite a ceremony when the Indians
first arrived in spring with their furs. The senior company officer
welcomed them. Then the Indian trading captain and his lieutenant
were dressed in European clothes and escorted in procession to
a special lodging place. Only after much ceremonial and exchang¬
ing of gifts did the actual trading start.
Trading was by barter and no money changed hands. The
traders and Indians usually expressed the value of the trade goods
and furs in terms of “whole beaver.” This was the pelt of a
perfect, full-grown beaver, killed in season, properly cured and
weighing about half a kilogram. Nicholas Garry, a member of the
London Committee, visited many of the forts in 1821 when he
70

Trading ceremony at York Factory in the 1780s. The arrival of the main body
of Indians in the early summer was one of the most important events of the year.
After being received by the fort's governor, the Indian chief and his lieutenant
were dressed in European clothes and escorted with great pageantry to the chief s
lodge.
 71

came out to help organize the union of the two companies. He

recorded in his diary some details of the values of furs and trade
goods and how the trading took place:
Beaver is the Standard to which all other skins are reduced and by
which the Indians trade. For instance should an Indian have the
following Skins:
Beaver, Whole or full grown 30 = 30 Whole Beaver
Beaver, Half or cub 11 = 51/2 Whole Beaver
Otters, Prime, large 1 = 2 Whole Beaver
Otters, Prime, small 1 - 1 Whole Beaver
Fox, Black prime 1 = 2 Whole Beaver

is
Fox, Red Whole Beaver

II
Fox, White 4= 2 Whole Beaver
Martins Whole Beaver

II
After the Trader has examined the Skins he tells the Indian his
Trade amounts to 4 Tens and 7 mores at the same Time gives the
Indian 47 quils, signifying that he will give him Goods. The Indian
will perhaps take:
A Gun = 11 Quils.
11
3 Yards Cloth 9
11
3 lb. of Powder 6
11
8 lb. of Shot = 4
11
1 Large Blanket 8
n
1 Hatchet = 2
it
1 File = 1
11
1 3-Gallon Kettle 6
47
Neither side had a particular advantage in trading. The company
had fixed rates of exchange as a guide to trading and the Indians
were hard bargainers. Their trading captain would often stress the
hardships they had suffered during the winter and then mix pleas
for pity with thinly-veiled threats that if they did not get “good
measure” they would go elsewhere with their furs. The company
trader certainly did not have things all his own way.

The Life of the Trader

With the union of the two companies in 1821 and the reorganization
which followed it, life in the larger fur-trading posts became much
more settled. For over a century, fur traders living a lonely and
Until the mid 1800s very few Hudson’s Bay Company men brought their white
wives to the company’s posts. An exception was Governor Henry> Sergeant, who
took command of Moose Fort on the southern shore of James Bay in 1683.
Included in his party were his wife and her companion, who thus became the first
white women to live in the Bay area.

isolated life in the remote forts had married Indian and Metis wives
“after the custom of the country.” This meant that although they
had not been legally married by a clergyman, they lived together
as man and wife. These were often very happy marriages, and
Indian wives were also useful for the fur trade. They sometimes
persuaded members of their tribe to bring more furs to the trader
and they taught their husbands a lot about living in their harsh
surroundings.
A few Indian and Metis wives, such as Amelia Douglas, rose
to high positions in society. Born in 1812 to an Irish-Canadian
 73

father and a Cree mother, Amelia was noted for her beauty and
quick intelligence. When her father became chief factor at Fort
St. James in 1824, Amelia met and fell in love with a young clerk,
James Douglas. They married when she was sixteen. As the am¬
bitious James rose steadily in company ranks, Amelia helped and
advised him. On one occasion she even saved his life through her
quick action and her understanding of her Cree people. When
James became governor of Vancouver Island and of British Co¬
lumbia, Amelia took an active role in the life of the colonies,
winning universal love and respect.
James and Amelia enjoyed a long and happy marriage, but
others were not so fortunate. Problems often occurred when com¬
pany men married Indian or Metis wives and then retired to live
in eastern Canada or Britain. Sometimes when a trader moved to
another post or left the West altogether, he simply abandoned his
country wife and children and never saw them again; sometimes
he left enough money to keep his family. But either way it was
an unhappy situation, and it was only the rare trader who, like
Douglas or like David Thompson, took his country wife and chil¬
dren with him when he moved on.
Governor Simpson, who had several country wives, began
a new trend. On one of his visits to Britain he married his young
cousin Frances and brought her out to live in Rupert's Land and
later in Montreal. Other traders followed his example, and soon
the major fur forts became settled little communities. York Factory
was the most important because it was the main depot for the
north. It was to York that the annual company ship came to bring
supplies and take a cargo of furs back to Britain.

York Factory
The visitor to York Factory in the 1840s would probably have
been discouraged at the first view of the fort from the sea. R. M.
Ballantyne, who worked for the Hudson's Bay Company and later
became world famous as a writer of adventure stories, once de¬
scribed York Factory as “a monstrous blot on a swampy spot with
a partial view of the frozen sea." His description of the terrain
was accurate. It was certainly a dreary and swampy spot. But the
York Factory in the 1850s. This was the main depot for all western Canada after
the union of the two companies in 1821. Company ships arriving here from Britain
each year brought supplies and passengers and returned with the furs. York
Factory lost much of its importances with the development of overland trade
routes between the Red River settlement and the United States in the 1860s.

fort itself was very impressive. It covered an area of two hectares

and was surrounded by a sturdy wooden stockade. There were
many fine buildings: a house for the chief factor; a large three-
storey warehouse with two wings for visitors; a fur store; work¬
shops for the various craftsmen; Bachelors’ Hall, a residence for
the clerks and apprentices; a provision store; and a powder mag¬
azine. In charge of the fort was the chief factor or the chief trader.
Under him were all the people employed by the company. These
formed two groups, the traders, clerks and apprentice clerks on
the one hand, and the skilled artisans such as blacksmiths, boat-
builders, coopers and carpenters, and the laborers who helped in
odd jobs around the fort on the other. Because of its importance,
York Factory also had a postmaster and a doctor who looked after
the company employees and the Indians who camped nearby.
 75

The long winter at York Factory was a great hardship. But

from the arrival of the first fur brigades in the spring to the
departure of the company ship in the fall, life at York was hectic.
Everything had to be done in a few short months: checking and
repacking the furs brought by the inland brigades, and sorting and
distributing the supplies brought from Britain. As York Factory
was still the main port of entry to Rupert’s Land, all visitors came
through on their way to Red River and other inland posts. Social
visits added to the already busy routines. There was always a
sense of urgency. When the ship from Britain arrived in early
June, the Captain, fearful of being caught by ice if he lingered
at York, was forever hurrying things on so that he could get safely
away in good time. With the departure of the supply ship and of
the inland brigades, peace and quiet again descended for the winter.

Originally used to carry furs and freight between the Red River settlement and
York Factory, these sturdy, flat-bottomed boats long remained in service on the
lakes and bigger rivers. Although they varied in length and width depending on
the waterway to be used, forty feet by ten feet amidships were the most common
dimensions. They could carry loads of up to nine tonnes and often had crews of
eleven.
76

Settlement in the West

While the company was doing well and making a good profit
under the efficient control of Simpson, events were taking place
which were bound to affect the fur trade sooner or later. Fur traders
never really welcomed settlers, fearing that they would drive away
the fur-bearing animals and eventually destroy the trade. Despite
their opposition, however, settled colonies did gradually take root
in the company’s territories.
The first, and the most important, was Lord Selkirk’s colony
at Red River. Although Governor Simpson probably shared the
fur traders’ dislike of the farming settlement, he had to obey the
orders of the London Committee, and it insisted that the colony
must continue. Certainly it was a useful place for company men
to live in retirement, and it might also be useful as a supply centre
and a source of food. But it became a very troublesome problem.

Opposition to Company Rule

Simpson tried hard to strengthen the settlement, to improve its
agriculture and industries, and to impose law and order. Red River
gradually became a vigorous little community with a growing
population of Scottish farmers, retired company officers and a
large group of Metis. As time went on, many of these people
began to resent the rule of the company. They wanted to be allowed
to make money by trading for furs and by selling goods to the
settlers. Both these practices were illegal because the company
had a monopoly of trade. But could the company enforce the law?
It had been easy enough to do so when all goods went through
York Factory, but this was no longer the case. Now there was an
overland trade route to St. Paul, Minnesota, and the company
could not possibly control the increasing number of Red River
carts which screeched across the open prairie to the United States.
The company soon realized that it was impossible to keep
out retail stores which the settlers obviously wanted. Several stores
opened and one merchant, it was said, could supply everything
‘’with the exception of second-handed coffins.” The company did
try, however, to enforce its sole right to trade in furs. It got some
help when British troops were stationed at Red River from 1846
 77

The founding of Fort Victoria, 1843. Fort Vancouver on the Columbia River was
for many years the headquarters of Hudson’s Bay Company trade west of the
Rockies. As American settlers began pouring into the area, however, the company
realized that it would soon have to move. Chief Factor James Douglas chose a
site at the southern end of Vancouver Island for a new depot, and company
headquarters was moved in 1849, three years after the international boundary
was established. Victoria is today the provincial capital of British Columbia.
78

to 1848, but when they left, it again became very difficult to

enforce the law. The Metis did much of the illegal trading, and
they were a well-organized and well-armed group. When a Metis
named Sayer was charged with illegal trading and was taken before
the court in 1849, a large crowd of his fellow Metis gathered
outside. They were armed and ready to rescue him by force if
things did not go well in the courtroom. In the end, the company
did not dare to take any action although Sayer admitted his guilt.
Anyone could now trade without fear of punishment.
The company also faced problems on the Pacific coast. There
it did not actually own the land as it did at Red River, but it
enjoyed a monopoly of trading rights. Chief Factor McLoughlin
had welcomed American settlers moving into the Oregon Territory,
and this eventually weakened the influence of the company. As
the Americans grew stronger, they demanded that the whole ter¬
ritory become part of the United States. War was averted when
the British and American governments reached a compromise: the
international boundary at the forty-ninth parallel of latitude, agreed
upon in 1818 as far west as the Rockies, was to be extended
through the mountains to the Pacific coast. The company then
moved its headquarters to Victoria on Vancouver Island. Here a
settlement grew up and here, as in Red River, the settlers soon
rebelled against company rule.

The End of Company Rule

By the early 1850s, the company had lost much of its power.
Complaints from settlers at Red River reached London, where a
committee of the British Parliament was discussing the company’s
rights. At these discussions, Governor Simpson ably defended the
activities of the company and stoutly maintained that the lands
in the West were highly unsuitable for settlement. But Simpson
also recognized that times were changing and that the company
would have to change too. As a result of the enquiry, Vancouver
Island and later mainland British Columbia became colonies under
direct British rule and the company lost its special trading rights.
It was also decided that at some future date Rupert’s Land would
be taken over by Canada and opened up for settlement.
 79

In 1869, just two years after Confederation, the company

agreed to surrender Rupert’s Land to Canada in return for a pay¬
ment of £300,000. The company would keep its trading posts and
the right to substantial blocks of land in the southern parts of what
was to become the prairie provinces.
The transfer, however, was far from peaceful. It should have
taken place on December 1, 1869, but by summer trouble was
already brewing. Teams of surveyors from Canada arrived at Red
River to prepare the way for the transfer of land. Unfortunately,
no one knew they were coming, and they soon met armed resistance
from the Metis, who feared that their lands would be stolen.
Confusion followed, and the Metis leader, Louis Riel, seized
power and formed a provisional government. After much discus¬
sion and some violence, delegates from Red River negotiated in
Ottawa for the admission of the colony to Canada as a province.
The settlement duly entered Canada as the province of Manitoba
in 1870. The new province was only a small part of the lands
known previously as Rupert’s Land. The other lands became the
Northwest Territories.
With the transfer complete, the shareholders of the Hudson’s
Bay Company were no longer “the true and absolute Lordes and
Proprietors” of Rupert’s Land. But the venerable company still
dominated the fur trade. With a changed role, it now prepared to
meet the future with the confidence born of long experience.
The Fur Trade Today
Chapter

After the transfer of Rupert’s Land in 1870, the Hudson's Bay

Company kept its interest in the fur trade and in the North, but
it now became more concerned with retail stores. Around the turn
of the century, new organizations, such as that of Revillon Freres,
began to compete for the fur trade in some areas. Revillon, a
French firm with a long and distinguished history as furriers,
decided in 1901 to establish its own trading posts in Canada. It
began with five posts on James Bay and rapidly expanded its
operations until by 1923 it had about forty-seven posts from La¬
brador to British Columbia. In the mid 1920s, however, its busi¬
ness began to decline, and in 1936 it sold its Canadian trading
operations to the Hudson's Bay Company.
During the twentieth century, the Hudson’s Bay Company
gradually came more and more under Canadian control, until in
1970, three hundred years after the granting of the royal charter
by Charles II, company headquarters moved from London to
Winnipeg. Today, the Hudson’s Bay Company is a thriving retail
chain whose large department stores in all major Canadian cities
contrast vividly with its scores of isolated posts in remote com¬
munities throughout the North.
The fur trade, which built the Hudson’s Bay Company, still
thrives today, but it has had its ups and downs in the last century.
Demand for furs remained fairly steady until the outbreak of the
First World War, but afterwards prices fluctuated. They rose
sharply in the 1920s, but then declined equally sharply a few years
later, leaving many trappers without a livelihood. These changes
80
 81

Governor General Roland Michener signed the new Canadian charter of the
Hudson s Bay Company in 1970. This transferred the company headquarters from
England to Canada.

occur because the fur business depends on so many things over

which it has no control. The main demand for furs is for women’s
fashions, and they can change with little warning. One year fur
may be fashionable; another year it may not. One year mink is
fashionable; the next year fox may be preferred.
Furs are also a status symbol. This means that some people
buy and wear expensive furs not only to keep warm or because
they like them, but also to impress other people. Demand for furs,
of course, also depends on prices; and prices often depend on
demand. In times of depression the demand for furs usually de¬
creases sharply; in times of war it virtually ceases.
In the 1970s, the fur trade had some of its best years. The
82

United States, Japan and many European countries were enjoying

prosperous times. Many people had money to spend on luxury
goods and the demand for furs rose rapidly. Prices also rose for
nearly all kinds of furs. Even the coyote's pelt, which brought the
trapper $3 in the early 1960s, brought as much as $100 in the late
1970s while a top-quality pelt might sell for as much as $200.
For many years the mink coat was the recognized status
symbol. Now mink has given way to red squirrel and to longhair
furs such as fox, lynx, badger and wolf. Of these, the lynx pelt,
averaging over $500, is the most expensive. But fashions keep
on changing. Once a particular fur becomes too popular or drops
in price, fashionable people switch to more expensive furs. Bea¬
ver, the fur that really started the fur trade three hundred years
ago, is still the best-wearing fur in all the world, but it has been
almost forgotten by Canadians. Beaver coats sell well in the United
States, Japan and Europe, but not in Canada.
Supplies of some furs can quite easily be controlled. Mink,
rabbit and blue and silver fox, for example, are raised on fur
farms, where numbers can be regulated. But there are only limited
numbers of those animals that are caught in the wild. Fur traders,
therefore, have long recognized the importance of conservation.
If hunters or trappers kill as many animals as they like, they
run the risk of killing them all. Hunting and trapping, like fishing,
has to be controlled. This gives the animals the chance to breed
and to restore their numbers. In Canada there are several ways
of controlling the killing of animals. Each province licenses trap¬
pers who have to pay a fee for permission to trap in a certain area.
The number of animals they can trap is carefully regulated, and
certain animals can be taken only between fixed dates. The time
allowed, known as the open season, varies from area to area and
depends mainly on the type of animal. For example, the trapping
of foxes and lynx, whose fur remains prime for a comparatively
short period, may be allowed for only the three coldest months
of the year. Other animals, such as mink, otter, beaver and mus¬
krat, are more or less amphibious and their fur remains in prime
condition for a longer time. Their open season is therefore longer
than that for foxes or lynx. As a means of conservation, however.
 83

the length of the open season can be changed according to the

estimated supply of each fur-bearing species.
The fur industry is still very valuable. It brings in millions
of dollars from sales to other countries, and it employs thousands
of people within Canada. Probably as many as seventy-five thou¬
sand people, some of them part-time, have trap lines on private
property or registered trap lines on crown lands.
When a trapper in northern Ontario or Manitoba completes
his catch for the winter, this is only the first of many steps before
the fur becomes part of a fashionable coat. The trapper first takes
his pelts to a northern fur trader. The trader then ships them to
a fur auction in cities such as Winnipeg, Montreal or North Bay,
Ontario. For many years, the Hudson’s Bay Company dominated
all fur sales in Canada, but recently the sales at North Bay, or¬
ganized by the Ontario Trappers’ Association, have increased
tremendously. Ontario is the world's richest fur-producing region,
and 60 percent of its furs are now sold at North Bay. The Hudson’s
Bay Company still dominates the sales of wild furs at Winnipeg
and of ranch-raised furs at Montreal. The total value of all furs
sold at auction in 1979 was over $70 million.
Furs sold at auction are usually bought by middlemen known
as brokers. These brokers in turn sell them to customers in different
parts of the world. It is these customers who actually make the
fur coats for sale to the public. And there is still a great demand
for them. Canadians alone spend over $500 million each year for
manufactured furs!
The fur trade, despite its long history, still has its problems.
Just as important as problems of changing fashions and varying
prices is the question of how the public sees the fur trade. The
main criticism has always been that furs are a luxury that cause
unnecessary suffering to animals. Furs, of course, are a luxury.
They are warm and they are fashionable, but they are not absolutely
necessary. This is even truer today, when there are so many
alternatives available, such as nylon made to look like fur and
lightweight coats filled with down. Yet people still buy fur coats
because they are fashionable; and for every fur coat that is made,
several animals have to die. It seems strange that people who treat
84

their dogs and cats like humans will ignore the deaths of countless
other animals when they buy their fur coats.
The event which raises most protest is undoubtedly the annual
seal hunt off the coast of Labrador. There, each spring, hunters
from several nations pursue the herds of harp seals on the ice floes
and kill the newly-born seal pups. Despite the protests, however,
the killing of these and other fur-bearing animals will continue
as long as the demand for furs persists.
The fur trade has played a unique role in Canadian history.
The discovery of furs led first to French settlement and then to
English. Competition for furs heightened the later conflicts be¬
tween the two nations and led ultimately to the exploration of the
farthest reaches of the country. At the same time, the involvement
of the native Indians as partners both in trade and in exploration
changed forever their way of life and posed problems which have
still to be resolved.
Over four hundred years have now passed since Cartier and
the Indians bartered for furs on the banks of the St. Lawrence.
Little could they have realized that they were laying the foundation
of Canada as we know it today.
Selected Biographies
CHAMPLAIN, Samuel de (15677-1635)
Champlain was born in Brouage, France, and took to the sea at an early
age. In 1603 he took part in a fur-trading voyage to the St. Lawrence and
mapped much of the shore line. In the following year he joined the expedition
to Acadia where he remained until the Port Royal settlement was abandoned
in 1607. His greatest achievement was the founding of Quebec in 1608.
Between 1609 and 1616, he undertook several voyages of exploration, first
south to Lake Champlain, then northwest to Georgian Bay and from there
down to the region south of Lake Ontario. Forced to surrender Quebec
temporarily to the English from 1629 to 1632, Champlain was again placed
in command in 1633 and successfully rebuilt the settlement. It was there
that he died two and a half years later. He is popularly known as the “Father
of New France.”

FRASER, Simon (1776-1862)

Simon Fraser was born in what is now the State of Vermont just before the
outbreak of the American Revolution. His loyalist father died in prison, and
after the war his mother brought him to Canada where they settled near
Cornwall. Educated at Montreal, Fraser became an apprentice in the North
West Company in 1792. He worked mainly in the Athabasca region until
he was placed in charge of company operations beyond the Rocky Moun¬
tains in 1805.
Over the next three years, Fraser explored the area and built a number
of trading posts, the first in what is now British Columbia. Then in 1808, he
undertook the journey that made him famous, the exploration of the Fraser
River to its mouth on the Pacific coast. In 1816, Fraser was among those
arrested by Lord Selkirk and accused of involvement in the tragic incident
at Seven Oaks. He was tried in 1818 and acquitted. By then he had retired
to a farm in Upper Canada, where he engaged rather unsuccessfully in
various business enterprises. A knee injury received while serving in the
militia during the 1837 rebellion handicapped him severely, and he spent
his last years in relative poverty.

GROSEILLIERS, Medard Chouart, Sieur des (1618-1696?)

Groseilliers came to Canada from France in 1642 to work with the Jesuit
missions to the Hurons, but he soon took to fur trading. Between 1654 and
1656, he reached Lake Michigan on a highly successful trading expedition
that reopened the western fur trade, which had been closed by the Iroquois.
He made a second westward journey in 1659-60 with his brother-in-law,

85
86

Pierre Esprit Radisson. They reached the southern shore of Lake Superior,
collected a rich load of furs and became convinced of the possibility of a
water route to Hudson Bay. Angered by their treatment at the hands of the
governor of New France, who fined them for trading without a licence.
Groseilliers offered his services to the English. With Radisson, he convinced
them of the potential value of Hudson Bay for furs. This led to the formation
of the Hudson’s Bay Company.
In 1676 Groseilliers returned to the service of the French and estab¬
lished Fort Bourbon at the mouth of the Hayes River. It later passed into
English hands and became York Factory. Little is known about Groseilliers’
later life.

HEARNE, Samuel (1745-1792)

Born in London, England, Samuel Hearne joined the Royal Navy at the age
of eleven and served in it until 1763. Three years later he joined the Hudson’s
Bay Company and was sent to Fort Prince of Wales at the mouth of the
Churchill River. After three years on company ships, he was put in charge
of inland exploration. He made several attempts to explore the Coppermine
River, and finally in 1771 he became the first man to reach the Arctic Ocean
overland. In 1774 he built Cumberland House, the first inland post of the
Hudson’s Bay Company. He was appointed governor of Fort Prince of
Wales in 1775, but was forced to surrender it to the French in 1782. A year
later he established a new post named Fort Churchill at the site. In 1787
he retired to England where he spent his last years writing an account of
his journeys which is remarkable for its skilled observation and realism.

KELSEY, Henry (c. 1667-1724)

A native of London, England, Henry Kelsey joined the Hudson’s Bay Com¬
pany as an apprentice in 1684. For the next thirty-eight years he played a
part in almost all the major events at Hudson Bay. In 1690-92 he made a
remarkable journey inland in an effort to persuade the Indians to the south
to bring their furs to the posts on the Bay. Travelling with the Indians, Kelsey
probably reached The Pas on the Saskatchewan River in present-day Man¬
itoba. He thus became the first white man to see the prairies and the great
herds of buffalo. He also acquired a rare knowledge of Indian languages.
Captured by d’Iberville at York Factory in 1694, Kelsey was imprisoned
in France. A little over a year later he returned to York Factory, where he
was captured a second time in 1697. He subsequently held commands at
various posts on the Bay until his retirement in 1722.

LA VERENDRYE, Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, Sieur de (1685-1749)

La Verendrye, who was born at Trois-Rivieres, served several years in the
 87

French army and saw action in the American colonies, in Newfoundland

and in Europe. On returning to New France, he became a successful fur
trader. Intrigued by Indian tales of a “western sea,” he began to make plans
to go in search of it. With his sons and a nephew, he set out in 1731. Over
the next few years, they explored far to the west and built a chain of fur¬
trading forts.
Although he failed to reach the western sea, La Verendrye’s explora¬
tions did much to establish French power in the West and to threaten the
dominance of the Hudson’s Bay Company. His accomplishment was not
immediately appreciated by the government or by the merchants who had
helped finance him, and in 1743 he was virtually forced to give up command
of the western posts. He returned to Montreal, where the value of his services
was eventually recognized. In 1749 he began planning another expedition
to the West but died before he could leave Montreal.

MACKENZIE, Sir Alexander (1764-1820)

Alexander Mackenzie’s family emigrated from Scotland to New York in
1774. At the outbreak of the American Revolution two years later, young
Mackenzie was sent north to school in Montreal. At the age of fifteen he
went to work for a small trading company which was later absorbed by the
North West Company. Mackenzie soon became a partner in the larger firm,
and in 1788 he was placed in charge of the Athabasca region. The following
year, he set out from Fort Chipewyan on the first of his major explorations
and reached the Arctic Ocean by the river system now known by his name.
His journey to the Pacific Ocean four years later established him as one
of Canada’s greatest explorers.
Mackenzie left the North West Company in 1799 and returned to Britain,
where he published his memoirs and was knighted in 1802. Back in Canada,
he became the leading partner of the XY Company, but ceased to take any
active role in the fur trade when it merged with the North West Company.
After sitting in the legislature of Lower Canada from 1804.to 1808, Mackenzie
left Canada for good and retired to Scotland.

POND, Peter (1740-1807)

Born in Connecticut in what is now the United States, Peter Pond served
as a soldier before becoming a fur trader. He came northwest in 1775 and
established the first trading post in Athabasca three years later.
Pond could scarcely read or write, but was skilled at living off the
country. He was the first white man to take trade goods to the Chipewyans,
who introduced him to pemmican. A skilled trader, he became interested
in exploration and soon got to know the waterways of the Northwest. He
carefully mapped many of these, and his enthusiasm encouraged Mack¬
enzie to persevere in his own explorations. Pond was an initial partner in
88

the North West Company, but was obliged to withdraw after his involvement
in two murders. He retired to the United States, where he died poor and
forgotten.

RADISSON, Pierre Esprit (16367-1710)

All that is known for certain of Radisson’s early life is that he was born in
France and that in 1651 he was living with his half-sister in Trois-Rivieres.
In the following year he was captured by the Iroquois but managed to escape
after about two years. He again spent some time in Iroquois country in
1657-58 when he accompanied a group of Jesuits to a mission that had
been established there. There is little doubt that it was his understanding
of the Iroquois language and mentality that saved the missionaries when
the Iroquois turned against them.
In 1660 Radisson joined his brother-in-law, Groseilliers, in exploring
the country west of the Great Lakes. Both later offered their services to the
King of England and were influential in events leading to the formation of
the Hudson’s Bay Company in 1670. In 1676 Radisson rejoined the French,
but in 1684 he again changed his allegiance and re-entered the service of
the English company, with which he remained until his death. A flamboyant
man with a flair for drama and exaggeration, he was probably responsible
for attracting the interest and support of Charles II for the Hudson’s Bay
Company.

SELKIRK, Thomas Douglas, 5th earl of (1771-1820)

A Scottish nobleman and philanthropist, Thomas Douglas succeeded to the
earldom of Selkirk and a considerable fortune in 1799. Wishing to relieve
the distress of crofters evicted from the Scottish highlands, Selkirk planned
colonies for them in Prince Edward Island and in Upper Canada. His main
project, however, was the Red River colony established on land granted
by the Hudson’s Bay Company, of which he had secured financial control.
The first of several parties of settlers arrived in 1812. In 1816, the North
West Company’s opposition to the settlement led to the battle of Seven
Oaks, the death of the colony’s governor and the temporary dispersal of
the settlers. Selkirk seized Fort William and arrested several leading
Nor’Westers in retaliation, and then re-established the colony at Red River
on a firm basis. There followed a series of legal battles between Selkirk
and the North West Company, and Selkirk came out the loser. Broken in
health, he returned to England and later died in southern France.

SIMPSON, Sir George (17877-1860)

Raised in the barren north of Scotland, Simpson left school at the age of
fourteen to work as a clerk in a London counting house. Family connections
secured him a job with the Hudson’s Bay Company, and in 1820 he took
 89

charge of the remote Fort Wedderburn at Lake Athabasca. He soon mas¬

tered the intricacies of the fur trade and showed the bold and ruthless
characteristics that later stood him in good stead. After only a year in the
fur trade, Simpson became governor of the Northern Department. Five years
later, he was put in charge of the Southern Department as well, and he
controlled the fur trade virtually single-handedly from then until his death.
He became governor-in-chief of the company in 1839 and was knighted two
years later.
Simpson was a businessman—efficient, ruthless, sometimes unfair;
but his capacity for kindness won him considerable loyalty. He, in turn, was
loyal to the company directors even when he disagreed with their policies.
His death coincided with the decline of the fur trade and of the fortunes of
the Hudson’s Bay Company. His short stature and domineering ways
earned him the nickname of “the Little Emperor.”

THOMPSON, David (1770-1857)

Born and educated in London, England, David Thompson was apprenticed
to the Hudson’s Bay Company and sent to Fort Churchill at the age of
fourteen. For thirteen years he worked as a clerk at various posts, did some
exploring and studied surveying. In 1797 he transferred to the rival North
West Company, in which he became a partner. From then until 1812,
Thompson was busy in the fur trade and in explorations of the northwest
and Pacific-coast regions. He was the first white man to travel the full length
of the Columbia River. The accurate maps he made of the land he travelled
through served as the basis for all later cartography. Moving to eastern
Canada in 1812, Thompson was later employed in surveying the interna¬
tional boundary with the United States. He died in poverty at Longueuil near
Montreal.
Glossary
Canot de maitre Also known as a “Montreal canoe,’’ this was a large
freight canoe used mainly on the route from Montreal to Fort William.
About thirteen metres in length, the canot de maitre could carry four
or five tonnes of cargo and had a crew of about twelve.
Canot du nord The “North canoe’’ was a smaller birchbark canoe used
mainly on the rivers and smaller lakes to the north and west of Lake
Superior. Up to ten metres long, it could carry nearly two tonnes of
cargo, a crew of eight or nine and two or three passengers.
Charter A written document, usually issued by a king, granting certain
privileges or possessions to an individual or group.
Coureur de boss “Runner of the woods,” an independent trader who
ranged the forests in search of furs. When the government of New
France made it illegal to trade in furs without a government-issued
license, the term came to refer to those who went out without one in
defiance of the law.
Factory A fur-trading post, especially one of the larger transshipment
depots where large quantities of food and supplies were stored.
Metis A person of mixed Indian and European ancestry. At one time
the term was used only for those of mixed Indian and French blood,
but it is now used generally to describe all “mixed blood” people.
Monopoly The sole right to trade in particular goods. If a company had
a monopoly of the fur trade in a certain place, for example, only that
company could legally trade in furs in that area, if the company had
no competitors, it could raise prices to make as much profit as possible.
Portage Canoes and boats, along with their cargo, often had to be
carried from one lake or river to another or around rapids or falls.
Portage was used to describe the places where this happened (for
instance, Methye Portage) or the act of doing it (as in, “we had to make
a portage”).
Shareholder Companies like the Hudson’s Bay Company had to have
money to operate and they raised it by selling shares. The people who
bought the shares were called shareholders, and they participated in
the profits of the company in proportion to the number of shares they
owned.
Voyageur A canoeman or boatman, usually a French Canadian, Or-
kneyman, Indian or Metis, who manned the vessels of the inland fur
trade.

90
Selected Further Reading
Andrews, R.J. The Fur Fort. Toronto: Ginn and Company, 1970. A well-
illustrated account of the role of the forts in the fur trade, with details
of construction, location and of the trading ceremonies.
The Voyageurs. Toronto: Ginn and Company, 1969. The story of the
voyageurs, their hardships and their achievements.
The Beaver. Winnipeg: Hudson’s Bay House. A quarterly magazine about
the part of Canada that was once controlled by the Hudson’s Bay
Company.
Campbell, Marjorie Wilkins. The Fur Trade. (Jackdaw Kit C5). Toronto:
Clarke, Irwin, 1971. An interesting kit containing extensive notes, pic¬
tures and facsimiles of documents.
The Nor’Westers. Toronto: Macmillan, 1973. A detailed account of the
North West Company from its beginnings until it merged with the
Hudson’s Bay Company in 1821.
The Savage River. Toronto: Macmillan, 1968. A well-told account of
Simon Fraser’s journey from Fort George to the Pacific in 1808.
Healy, W.J. Women of Red River. Winnipeg: Peguis, 1967. Recollections,
first published in 1923, of the women of the Red River Settlement.
The Manitoba Trappers’ Guide. Winnipeg: Department of Mines, Natural
Resources and Environment, 1979. Details of trapping methods and
regulations
Morse, Eric W. Fur Trade Canoe Routes of Canada/Then and Now. Toronto:
University of Toronto Press, 1979. A thorough account of the canoe
routes and the problems they presented, based on first-hand experi¬
ence.
Neering, Rosemary. Fur Trade. Toronto: Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 1974. A
straight-forward account of the fur trade for younger readers.
Wilson, Clifford. Adventurers from the Bay. Toronto: Macmillan, 1962. An
account of the men of the Hudson’s Bay Company and their work in
what is now western Canada.
Wilson, Keith. George Simpson and the Hudson’s Bay Company. Agin-
court: Book Society of Canada, 1977. The colorful career of Simpson
is set in the context of the rise and gradual decline of the fur trade.
Profusely illustrated and with suggested activities for students.
Life at Red River: 1830-1860. Toronto: Ginn and Company, 1970. A
well- illustrated account of various aspects of social life at the Red
River settlement.

91
For Discussion

THE BEAVER

1) Why were furs so widely used during the Middle Ages?

2) Why and how do beavers build dams?
3) Explain what is meant by conservation and why it is important.
4) Find out whether the population of beavers is increasing or decreasing
today.

BEGINNINGS AND NEW FRANCE

1) Find a map of the world as imagined before the voyages of Columbus

and compare it with today’s map. What differences are there? Are there
still parts of the world unmapped?
2) Read the poem “Jacques Cartier” by Thomas D’Arcy McGee.
3) Why was fish so important to Europeans in the sixteenth century?
4) Place-names often reflect history. Choose five places near you and
find out how they got their names.
5) If you were building a habitation, where and how would you build it?
6) What were the main dangers faced by the early inhabitants of Quebec?
7) What were the main arguments for and against the granting of a fur-
trade monopoly in New France?
8) The granting of seigniories was really a continuation of the feudal
system. Find out what is meant by feudal and how land was owned
and farmed in the Middle Ages.
9) Why did the French government want to strengthen the colony at Que¬
bec?
10) Look at a historical atlas and find out which Indian tribes lived near the
St. Lawrence River and the Great Lakes.
11) If you were a young coureur de bois living among the Hurons, how
would you learn their language?
12) Why did the Roman Catholic church want to convert the Indians to
Christianity?
13) Find out more about the religious beliefs of the Indians.
14) What were the main problems faced by New France in 1663 just before
the imposition of royal government?

92
 93

RIVALS FOR THE TRADE

1) Groseilliers reported finding a lake as large as the Caspian Sea. Using

an atlas, find the fifteen largest lakes in the world.
2) When traders penetrated into unknown lands, they often had to shoot
wild animals and fowl in order to survive. What animals would they
have found in the Great Lakes region?
3) Marie de I’lncarnation founded the Ursuline convent in Quebec. What
is a convent? What did the Ursuline Sisters do in the young colony?
4) What would be the main problems faced by ships sailing from England
to Hudson Bay?
5) What is an auction? Find out how auctions were conducted in the
1660s.
6) Consult a historical atlas and find the largest extent of French rule in
North America.
7) On a map trace the journeys made by La Verendrye and his sons.
What were their main problems?
8) In what ways were the British stronger than the French in North America
before 1760?

TWO GREAT COMPANIES

1) If the Hudson’s Bay Company owned Rupert’s Land, why were other
fur traders allowed to operate there?
2) In the rivalry between the Hudson’s Bay Company and the North West
Company, what advantages and disadvantages did each side have?
3) Why was Fort William such an important post for the North West Com¬
pany?
4) Voyageurs faced many hardships and dangers, and yet there were
always plenty of men willing to become voyageurs. Why would men
want to take so hard a job? What do you imagine their wives thought
of their way of life?
5) Learn the words and music to one popular voyageur song.
6) On a map trace the two main explorations of Alexander Mackenzie.
7) What were the most valuable furs in the Pacific coast area of British
Columbia?
8) Read more about the founding and early history of the settlement at
Red River.
9) Imagine that you are one of the women in the first party of Selkirk
settlers. Write a letter to your sister in Scotland describing your new
home and some of your activities in summer and winter. You might
like to refer to W.J. Healy’s book, Women of Red River.
94

THE NEW HUDSON’S BAY COMPANY

1) Look at a map showing the fur-trading districts. Can you tell why the
districts were established in this way?
2) Why do you think Governor Simpson was called “the Little Emperor”?
3) Would you like to have been a trader under the rule of Simpson? Explain
your reasons.
4) Was Simpson a good choice as governor of the Hudson’s Bay Com¬
pany?
5) Fort Frances, Ontario, was named in honor of Frances Simpson, the
wife of Governor Simpson. Can you find any places in Canada named
after fur traders or voyageurs?
6) Imagine that you are a young clerk at York Factory. Write a letter to
your parents in Scotland describing your experiences during your first
summer at York.
7) James Douglas is called the “Father of British Columbia.” Find out
why.
8) How did Metis and Indian wives like Amelia Douglas help their husbands
in the fur trade?

THE FUR TRADE TODAY

1) Talk to three people who own fur coats. Ask them what kind of fur they
are and why they bought them.
2) Find out more about fur farms. For example, what animals are raised,
what the animals are fed, what are some of the difficulties in raising
fur-bearing animals.
3) Arrange a class debate on the motion . . . “That the trapping of animals
is cruel and should be banned”.
Index
Algoriquins, 20, 24 Garraway’s Inn. See Fur auction, first
Astor, John Jacob, 52, 57 Garry, Nicholas, 62, 69-70; illus., 62
Groseilliers, Medard Chouart, Sieur des, 28,
Heaver, 9, 10, 12-15, 82; illus., 12 29-33; biography, 86
dam, 13-14; illus., 14
hats, 12-13; illus., 19 Harmon, Daniel, 52, 58
kits, 15 Heame, Samuel, 48; biography, 86; illus., 48
Heaver Club, 54 V Hebert, Louis, 22
BrCil6, Ltienrie, 25 Henday, Anthony, illus., 41
Hudson’s Bay Company, 33-38, 45-49, 58-81
( abot, John, 10, 16-17 Charter, 1670, 33-34; illus., 35
Canot de mail re, 49, 90 Charter, 1970, 80
( a not du nord, 90 reorganization of 1821, 60-61, 63-65
( artier, Jacques, 17-18 trade routes, 49, 65
Castor Kras d’hiver, 18 trading procedures, 69-70
Castor see, 18 Hurons, 24-27
Ceintures flechers, 52
Champlain, Samuel de, 18-22, 24; biography, Indian Alliances, 24-25
85 Indians, 9-10, 17-18, 46. See also names of
Charles II, King of England, 31, 33 individual tribes
Company of New France, 23-24 Iroquois, 23-25, 27-28
Company of One Hundred Associates. See
Company of New France
Jesuits, 26-27
Conservation, 66-67, 82 Jolliet, Louis, 39
Cook, Captain James, 57
( ouritry wives, 72-73
Kelsey, Henry, 35, 40; biography, 86
( oureurs de hois, 26, 90
Cumberland House, 48, 58
La Jemerais, Christophe de, 42
He Morits, Pierre du (iua, Sieur de, 20 La Salle, Robert Cavelier de, 39
D’Iberville, Pierre le Moyne, 37 La Verendrye, Jean-Baptiste. 42
Dollard des Ormeaux, 27-28 La Verendrye, Pierre Gaultier de Varennes,
Douglas, Amelia, 72-73 Sieur de, 40-44; biography, 86
Douglas, James, 73; illus., 77
Mackenzie, Alexander, 54, 55-56; biography,
Eaglet, 33 87; illus., 56
Entrepot, 49 Manitoba, creation of, 79
Marquette, Jacques, 39
Fort Astoria, 57 Marie de l’lncamation, 31
Fort Victoria, 78; illus., 77 McGillivray, Simon, 63
Fort William, 49-51, 65; illus., 50 McLoughlin, John, 65-66, 78
Fraser, Simon, 54, 57; biography, 85 Metis, 59, 76, 78-79, 90
Frontenac, Louis de Huade, Comte de, 37, 39 Missionaries. See Jesuits, Recollets
Fur auction Montagnais, 20, 24
first, 34; illus., 36 Montreal, founding of, 25
modern, 83
Fur fair, 25 Nonsuch, 33; illus., 32

95
96

North West Company, 47-51, 54-61, 63 Sainte-Marie, 27

trade routes, 49, 65 Saint-Lusson, Daumont de, 39
merger with Hudson’s Bay Company, Sea otter, 57
60-61, 63-65 Seignoiries, 24
Selkirk, Thomas Douglas, 5th earl of, 58-59;
Order of Good Cheer, 22 biography, 88
Oregon Territory, 61, 78 Selkirk settlement, 59. See also Red River
boundary dispute, 78 settlement
Simpson, Frances, 73
Pacific Fur Company, 57 Simpson, Sir George, 62-69, 73, 76; biography,
Pemmican, 53, 55 88; illus., 64
Plains of Abraham, battle of, 44
Pond, Peter, 54-55; biography, 87 Tadoussac, 17, 18
Port Royal, 18-20 Talon, Jean, 39
Thompson, David, 54, 57, 73; biography, 87
Quebec, founding of, 22 Treaty of Utrecht, 37
Trois-Rivieres, founding of, 26
Radisson, Pierre Esprit, 30-33; biography, 88
Recollets, 26 Ville-Marie. See Montreal
Red River carts, 76 Voyageurs, 51-52, 90
Red River rebellion, 79
Red River settlement, 76-79 York boats, 66; illus., 75
Revillon Freres, 80 York Factory, 65, 73-74; illus., 74
Riel, Louis, 79
Royal Government, 28 XY Company, 47
Rupert, Prince, 33
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Born in England, Keith Wilson studied history at the University of Shef¬
field where he obtained his M.A. in 1953. He subsequently taught history
in schools in England, Canada and New Zealand, and continued his
postgraduate studies at the University of Manitoba (M.Ed.) and Michigan
State University (Ph.D.)., Since 1960 he has been a professor in the
Faculty of Education at the University of Manitoba, and during that time
he has written and edited many books on Canadian social history for
schools. He lives in Winnipeg with his wife and two sons.

Focus on Canadian History Series

REBELLIONS IN CANADA Desmond Morton
LIFE IN UPPER CANADA Wesley Turner
OPENING THE CANADIAN WEST David Bercuson
LIFE IN NEW FRANCE Eric Skeoch
PRIME MINISTERS OF CANADA William LaCroix
TOWARDS WOMEN’S RIGHTS Janet Ray
FUR TRADE IN CANADA Keith Wilson
THE ACADIANS Barry Moody
CONFEDERATION: A NEW NATIONALITY Michael Bliss
UNITED EMPIRE LOYALISTS AND THE
AMERICAN REVOLUTION Alan Skeoch

0717218074
05/12/201 / 12:40-3