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Transcriber's note:
Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).
A list of corrections will be found at the end of the
e-book.
[Illustration: LORD STRATHCONA AND MOUNT ROYAL
_Present Governor of the Hudson's Bay Company_.]
THE GREAT COMPANY
Being a History of the Honourable Company of Merchants-Adventurers
Trading into Hudson's Bay
by
BECKLES WILLSON
With an Introduction by
Lord Strathcona And Mount Royal
Present Governor of the Hudson's Bay Company
With Original Drawings by Arthur Heming
and
Maps, Plans and Illustrations
New York
Dodd, Mead & Company
1900
Entered according to Act of the Parliament of Canada, in the year one
thousand eight hundred and ninety-nine, by the Copp, Clark Company,
Limited, Toronto, in the Office of the Minister of Agriculture.
TO
THE RIGHT HONOURABLE
SIR WILFRID LAURIER, G.C.M.G.,
TO WHOSE GENEROUS SUGGESTION AND CONTINUED
ENCOURAGEMENT IS SO LARGELY DUE THE
COMPILATION OF THESE ANNALS.
PREFACE.
Praiseworthy as the task is of unifying the scattered elements of our
Canadian story, yet it will hardly be maintained that such historical
studies ought not to be preceded by others of a more elementary
character. Herein, then, are chronicled the annals of an institution
coherent and compact--an isolated unit.
The Hudson's Bay Company witnessed the French dominion in Northamerica
rise to its extreme height, decline and disappear; it saw new colonies
planted by Britain; it saw them quarrel with the parent State, and
themselves become transformed into States. Wars came and
passed--European Powers on this continent waxed and waned, rose and
faded away; remote forests were invaded by loyal subjects who erected
the wilderness into opulent provinces. Change, unceasing, never-ending
change, has marked the history of this hemisphere of ours; yet there
is one force, one institution, which survived nearly all conditions
and all _régimes_. For two full centuries the Hudson's Bay Company
existed, unshorn of its greatness, and endures still--the one enduring
pillar in the New World mansion.
In pondering the early records of the Company, one truth will hardly
escape observation. It did not go forth amongst the savages with the
Bible in its hand. Elsewhere, an old axiom, and true--first the
missionary, then the soldier, then the trader. In the case of the
Company, this order has been reversed. The French associations in
Canada for the collection and sale of furs were preceded by the
Jesuits--brave, fearless, self-denying--whose deeds form the theme of
some of Parkman's most thrilling pages.
A few years since, in the solitudes of the West, two European tourists
were struck by the frequency with which they encountered a certain
mystic legend. Eager to solve its meaning, they addressed a half-breed
lounger at a small station on the Canadian Pacific Railway.
"Tell us, my friend," they said, "what those three letters yonder
signify. Wherever we travel in this country we encounter 'H. B. C.' We
have seen the legend sewn on the garments of Indians; we have seen it
flying from rude forts; it has been painted on canoes; it is inscribed
on bales and boxes. What does 'H. B. C.' mean?"
"That's _the Company_," returned the native grimly, "Here Before
Christ."
Might not the first missionary who, in 1818, reached York Factory
contemplate his vast cure, and say: Here, bartering, civilizing,
judging, corrupting, revelling, slaying, marching through the
trackless forest, making laws and having dominion over a million
souls--_here before Christ!_
It is probable a day is at hand when all this area will be dotted with
farms, villages and cities, a time when its forests will be uprooted
and the plains of Rupert's Land and the North-West Territory tilled by
the husbandman, its hills and valleys exploited by the miner; yet,
certain spots in this vast region must ever bear testimony to the
hunter of furs. Remote, solitary, often hungry and not seldom
frozen--the indomitable servant of the Great Fur Company lived here
his life and gave his name to mountain, lake and river.
Whatsoever destiny has in store for this country, it can never
completely obliterate either the reverence and admiration we have for
brave souls, or those deeper feelings which repose in the bosoms of so
many Canadian men and women whose forefathers lent their arms and
their brains to the fur-trade. The beaver and the marten, the fox and
the mink, may soon be as extinct as the bison, or no more numerous
than the fox and the beaver are to-day in the British Isles; but this
volume, imperfect as it is, may serve as a reminder that their
forbears long occupied the minds and energies of a hardy race of men,
the like of whose patience, bravery and simple honest careers may not
soon again be seen.
He who would seek in these pages the native romance, the vivid colour,
the absorbing drama of the Great North-West, will seek, I fear, in
vain. My concern has been chiefly with the larger annals of the
Hudson's Bay Company, its history proper, which until now has not been
compiled.
TORONTO, 27th June, 1899.
INTRODUCTION.
Mr. Beckles Willson has asked me to write a short introduction for his
forthcoming book on the Hudson's Bay Company, and it gives me great
pleasure to comply with his request.
It is gratifying to know that this work has been undertaken by a young
Canadian, who has for some years had a laudable desire to write the
history of what he appropriately calls "The Great Company," with whose
operations the development of the Western parts of Canada has been so
closely connected.
The history of the Company during the two centuries of its existence
must bring out prominently several matters which are apt now to be
lightly remembered. I refer to the immense area of country--more than
half as large as Europe--over which its control eventually extended,
the explorations conducted under its auspices, the successful
endeavours, in spite of strenuous opposition, to retain its hold upon
what it regarded as its territory, its friendly relations with the
Indians, and, finally, the manner in which its work prepared the way
for the incorporation of the "illimitable wilderness" within the
Dominion.
It is not too much to say that the fur-traders were the pioneers of
civilization in the far West. They undertook the most fatiguing
journeys with the greatest pluck and fortitude; they explored the
country and kept it in trust for Great Britain. These fur-traders
penetrated to the Rocky Mountains, and beyond, into what is now known
as British Columbia, and even to the far north and northwest, in
connection with the extension of trade, and the establishment of the
famous "H. B. C." posts and forts, which were the leading features of
the maps of the country until comparatively recent times. The names of
many of these early explorers are perpetuated in its rivers and
lakes; and many important Arctic discoveries are associated with the
names of officers of the Company, such as Hearne, Dease, and Simpson,
and, in later times, Dr. John Rae.
The American and Russian Companies which were seeking trade on the
Pacific Coast, in the early days of the present century, were not able
to withstand the activity and enterprise of their British rivals, but
for whose discoveries and work even British Columbia might not have
remained British territory. For many years the only civilized
occupants of both banks of the Columbia River were the fur-traders,
and it is not their fault that the region between it and the
international boundary does not now belong to Canada. Alaska was also
leased by the Hudson's Bay Company from Russia, and one cannot help
thinking that if that country had been secured by Great Britain, we
should probably never have heard of the Boundary Question, or of
disputes over the Seal Fisheries. However, these things must be
accepted as they are; but it will not, in any case, be questioned that
the work of the Company prepared the way for the consolidation of the
Dominion of Canada, enabling it to extend its limits from the Atlantic
to the Pacific, and from the international boundary to the far north.
The principal business of the Company in the early days was, of
course, the purchasing of furs from the Indians, in exchange for arms,
ammunition, clothes and other commodities imported from the United
Kingdom. Naturally, therefore, the prosperity of the Company depended
largely upon good relations being maintained with the Indians. The
white man trusted the Indians, and the Indians trusted the white man.
This mutual confidence, and the friendly relations which were the
result, made the transfer of the territory to Canada comparatively
easy when the time for the surrender came. It is interesting to note
also, that while intent upon trading with the Indians, the Company did
not neglect the spread of civilizing influences among them. The result
of their wise policy is seen in the relations that have happily
existed since 1870 between the Government and the Indians. There has
been none of the difficulties which gave rise to so many disasters in
the western parts of the United States. Even in the half-breed
disturbance in 1869-70, and in that of 1885, the Indians (with very
few exceptions) could not be induced to take arms against the forces
of law and order.
Although the Red River settlement was inaugurated and carried out
under its auspices, it has been stated, and in terms of reproach, that
the Company did not encourage settlement or colonization. The
statement may have an element of truth in it, but the condition of the
country at the time must be borne in mind. Of course, the fur trade
and settlement could not go on side by side. On the other hand, until
the country was made accessible, colonization was not practicable.
Settlers could not reach it without the greatest difficulty, even for
many years after the transfer of the territory took place, or get
their produce away. Indeed, until the different Provinces of Canada
became federated, and were thus in a position to administer the
country and to provide it with the necessary means of communication,
the opening up of its resources was almost an impossibility. No single
province of Canada could have undertaken its administration or
development, and neither men nor money were available, locally, to
permit of its blossoming out separately as a Colony, or as a series of
Provinces.
The work of the Company is still being continued, although, of course,
under somewhat different conditions. The fur trade is quite as large
as ever it was, and the relations of the Company are as cordial as of
old with the Indians and other inhabitants in the districts remote
from settlement, in which this part of the business is largely carried
on. It has also adapted itself to the times, and is now one of the
leading sources of supplies to the settlers in Manitoba, the
North-West Territories, and British Columbia, and to the prospectors
and miners engaged in developing the resources of the Pacific
province. Besides, it has a very large stake in the North-West, in the
millions of acres of land handed over to it, according to agreement,
as the country is surveyed. In fact, it may be stated that the
Hudson's Bay Company is as inseparably bound up with the future of
Western Canada as it has been with its past.
There are, of course, many other things that might be mentioned in an
introduction of this kind, and there is room especially for an
extended reference to the great and wonderful changes that have been
apparent in Manitoba, the North-West Territories, and British
Columbia, since, in the natural order of things, those parts of Canada
passed out of the direct control of the Company. The subject is so
fascinating to me, having been connected with the Company for over
sixty years, that the tendency is to go on and on. But the different
details connected with it will doubtless be dealt with by Mr. Beckles
Willson himself much better than would be possible in the limited time
at my disposal, and I shall therefore content myself with stating, in
conclusion, that I congratulate the author on the work he has
undertaken, and trust that it will meet with the success it deserves.
It cannot fail to be regarded as an interesting contribution to the
history of Canada, and to show, what I firmly believe to be the case,
that the work of the Hudson's Bay Company was for the advantage of the
Empire.
[Illustration: SIGNATURE OF LORD STRATHCONA AND MOUNT ROYAL.]
LONDON, June 23rd, 1899.
CONTENTS.
PAGE.
CHAPTER I.--1660-1667.
Effect of the Restoration on Trade -- Adventurers at Whitehall --
The East India Company Monopoly -- English Interest in North
America -- Prince Rupert's Claims -- The Fur Trade of Canada --
Aim of the Work. 17
CHAPTER II.--1659-1666.
Groseilliers and Radisson -- Their Peregrinations in the
North-West -- They Return to Quebec and Lay their Scheme before
the Governor -- Repulsed by him they Proceed to New England --
And thence Sail for France, where they Endeavour to Interest M.
Colbert. 23
CHAPTER III.--1667-1668.
Prince Rupert -- His Character -- Serves through the Civil War
-- His Naval Expedition in the West Indies -- Residence in
France -- And ultimately in London -- He receives Groseilliers
and introduces him to the King. 35
CHAPTER IV.--1668-1670.
The Prince Visits the _Nonsuch_ -- Arrival in the Bay -- Previous
Voyages of Exploration -- A Fort Commenced at Rupert's River --
Gillam's Return -- Dealing with the Nodwayes -- Satisfaction of
the Company -- A Royal Charter granted. 44
CHAPTER V.--1668-1670.
Danger Apprehended to French Dominion -- Intendant Talon -- Fur
Trade Extended Westward -- News of the English Expedition
Reaches Quebec -- Sovereign Rights in Question -- English
Priority Established. 52
CHAPTER VI.--1671.
First Public Sale at Garraway's -- Contemporary Prices of Fur
-- The Poet Dryden -- Meetings of the Company -- Curiosity of
the Town -- Aborigines on View. 60
CHAPTER VII.--1671-1673.
Mission of the Père Albanel -- Apprehension at Fort Charles --
Bailey's Distrust of Radisson -- Expedition to Moose River --
Groseilliers and the Savages -- The Bushrangers Leave the
Company's Service -- Arrival of Governor Lyddal. 69
CHAPTER VIII.--1673-1682.
Progress of the Company -- Confusion as to the Names and Number
of the Tribes -- Radisson goes to Paris -- His Efforts to
Obtain Support there, and from Prince Rupert, in England, Fail
-- Arrival of M. de la Chesnaye -- With his help Radisson
Secures Support -- And Sails for Quebec -- Thence Proceeds with
Two Ships to Attack the English Ports in Hudson's Bay -- His
Encounters with Gillam's Expedition from London, and his Son's,
from New England. 80
CHAPTER IX.--1682-1683.
Death of Prince Rupert -- The Company's Difficulty in Procuring
Proper Servants -- Radisson at Port Nelson -- The two Gillams
-- Their Meeting -- Capture of the New England Party -- The
First Scotchman in the Bay -- Governor Bridgar Carried off
Prisoner -- Indian Visitors to the Fort -- Disasters to the
Ships -- The French Burn the Island Fort -- Radisson's Harangue
to the Indians -- Return to France. 94
CHAPTER X.--1684-1687.
Hays writes to Lord Preston -- Godey sent to Radisson's
lodgings -- La Barre's strenuous efforts -- Radisson Returns to
the English -- He leaves for the Bay -- Meets his nephew,
Chouart -- Fort Bourbon Surrendered to the Company --
Radisson's dramatic Return to London. 112
CHAPTER XI.--1683-1686.
Feigned Anger of Lewis -- He writes to La Barre -- Importance
Attached to Indian Treaties -- Duluth's Zeal -- Gauthier de
Comportier -- Denonville made Governor -- Capture of the
_Merchant of Perpetuana_ -- Expedition of Troyes against the
Company's Posts in the Bay -- Moose Fort Surrendered. 125
CHAPTER XII.--1686-1689.
The French Attack upon Fort Rupert -- Governor Sargeant
Apprised -- Intrepidity of Nixon -- Capture of Fort Albany --
Disaster to the _Churchill_ -- The Company Hears the ill News --
Negotiations for Colonial Neutrality -- Destruction of New
Severn Fort -- Loss of the _Hampshire_ -- The Revolution. 134
CHAPTER XIII.--1689-1696.
Company's Claims Mentioned in Declaration of War -- Parliament
Grants Company's Application for Confirmation of its Charter --
Implacability of the Felt-makers -- Fort Albany not a Success
in the hands of the French -- Denonville urges an Attack upon
Fort Nelson -- Lewis Despatches Tast with a Fleet to Canada --
Iberville's Jealousy prevents its Sailing to the Bay --
Governor Phipps Burns Fort Nelson -- Further Agitation on the
part of the French to Possess the West Main -- Company Makes
another Attempt to Regain Fort Albany -- Fort Nelson
Surrendered to Iberville -- Its Re-conquest by the Company. 146
CHAPTER XIV.--1696-1697.
Imprisoned French Fur-Traders Reach Paris -- A Fleet under
Iberville Despatched by Lewis to the Bay -- Company's four
Ships precede them through the Straits -- Beginning of a Fierce
Battle -- The _Hampshire_ Sinks -- Escape of the _Dering_ and
capture of the _Hudson's Bay_ -- Dreadful Storm in the Bay --
Losses of the Victors -- Landing of Iberville -- Operations
against Fort Nelson -- Bailey Yields -- Evacuation by the
English. 158
CHAPTER XV.--1698-1713.
Petition Presented to Parliament Hostile to Company --
Seventeenth Century Conditions of Trade -- _Coureurs de
Bois_ -- Price of Peltries -- Standard of Trade Prescribed --
Company's Conservatism -- Letters to Factors -- Character of
the Early Governors -- Henry Kelsey -- York Factory under the
French -- Massacre of Jérémie's Men -- Starvation amongst the
Indians. 169
CHAPTER XVI.--1697-1712.
Company Seriously Damaged by Loss of Port Nelson -- Send an
Account of their Claims to Lords of Trade -- Definite Boundary
Propositions of Trade -- Lewis anxious to Create Boundaries --
Company look to Outbreak of War -- War of Spanish Succession
Breaks Out -- Period of Adversity for the Company -- Employment
of Orkneymen -- Attack on Fort Albany -- Desperate Condition of
the French at York Fort -- Petition to Anne. 187
CHAPTER XVII.--1712-1720.
Queen Anne Espouses the Cause of the Company -- Prior's View of
its Wants -- Treaty of Utrecht -- Joy of the Adventurers --
Petition for Act of Cession -- Not Pressed by the British
Government -- Governor Knight Authorized to take Possession of
Port Nelson -- "Smug Ancient Gentlemen" -- Commissioners to
Ascertain Rights -- Their Meeting in Paris -- Matters Move
Slowly -- Bladen and Pulteney return to England. 198
CHAPTER XVIII.--1719-1727.
The South Sea Bubble -- Nation Catches the Fever of Speculation
-- Strong Temptation for the Company -- Pricking of the Bubble
-- Narrow Escape of the Adventurers -- Knight and his
Expedition -- Anxiety as to their Fate -- Certainty of their
Loss -- Burnet's Scheme to Cripple the French -- It Forces them
Westward into Rupert's Land. 208
CHAPTER XIX.--1687-1712.
Hudson's Bay Tribes Peaceful -- Effect of the Traders' Presence
-- Depletion of Population -- The Crees and Assiniboines --
Their Habits and Customs -- Their Numbers -- No Subordination
Amongst Them -- Spirituous Liquors -- Effect of Intemperance
upon the Indian. 217
CHAPTER XX.--1685-1742.
Errant Tribes of the Bay -- The Goose Hunt -- Assemblage at
Lake Winnipeg -- Difficulties of the Voyage -- Arrival at the
Fort -- Ceremony followed by Debauch -- Gifts to the Chief --
He makes a Speech to the Governor -- Ceremony of the Pipe --
Trading Begun. 230
CHAPTER XXI.--1725-1742.
System of Licenses re-adopted by the French -- Verandrye Sets
Out for the Pacific -- His Son Slain -- Disappointments -- He
reaches the Rockies -- Death of Verandrye -- Forts in Rupert's
Land -- Peter the Great and the Hudson's Bay Company --
Expeditions of Bering -- A North-West Passage -- Opposition of
the Company to its Discovery -- Dobbs and Middleton --
Ludicrous distrust of the Explorer -- An Anonymous Letter. 240
CHAPTER XXII.--1744-1748.
War again with France -- Company takes Measures to Defend its
Forts and Property -- "Keep Your Guns Loaded" -- Prince
"Charlie" -- His Stock in the Company Confiscated -- Further
Instructions to the Chief Factors -- Another Expedition to
Search for a North-West Passage -- Parliament Offers Twenty
Thousand Pounds Reward -- Cavalier Treatment from Governor
Norton -- Expedition Returns -- Dobbs' Enmity -- Privy Council
Refuse to Grant his Petition -- Press-gang Outrages -- Voyage
of the _Seahorse_. 257
CHAPTER XXIII.--1748-1760.
Parliamentary Committee of Enquiry Appointed -- Aim of the
Malcontents -- Lord Strange's Report -- Testimony of Witnesses
-- French Competition -- Lords of Plantations Desire to
Ascertain Limits of Company's Territory -- Defeat of the
Labrador Company -- Wolfe's Victory -- "Locked up in the Strong
Box" -- Company's Forts -- Clandestine Trade -- Case of Captain
Coats. 269
CHAPTER XXIV.--1763-1770.
Effect of the Conquest on the Fur-trade of the French --
Indians again Seek the Company's Factories -- Influx of
Highlanders into Canada -- Alexander Henry -- Mystery
Surrounding the _Albany_ Cleared Up -- Astronomers Visit Prince
of Wales' Fort -- Strike of Sailors -- Seizure of Furs --
Measures to Discourage Clandestine Trade. 286
CHAPTER XXV.--1768-1773.
Reports of the "Great River" -- Company Despatch Samuel Hearne on
a Mission of Discovery -- Norton's Instructions -- Saluted on
his Departure from the Fort -- First and Second Journeys --
Matonabee -- Results of the Third Journey -- The Company's
Servants in the Middle of the Century -- Death of Governor
Norton. 299
CHAPTER XXVI.--1773-1782.
Company Suffers from the Rivalry of Canadians -- Cumberland
House Built -- Debauchery and License of the Rivals --
Frobisher Intercepts the Company's Indians -- The Smallpox
Visitation of 1781 -- La Pérouse appears before Fort Prince of
Wales -- Hearne's Surrender -- Capture of York Fort by the
French -- The Post Burned and the Company's Servants carried
away Prisoners. 314
CHAPTER XXVII.--1783-1800.
Disastrous Effects of the Competition -- Montreal Merchants
Combine -- The North-Westers -- Scheme of the Association --
Alexander Mackenzie -- His two Expeditions Reach the Pacific --
Emulation Difficult -- David Thompson. 327
CHAPTER XXVIII.--1787-1808.
Captain Vancouver -- La Pérouse in the Pacific -- The Straits
of Anian -- A Fantastic Episode -- Russian Hunters and Traders
-- The Russian Company -- Dissensions amongst the Northmen --
They Send the _Beaver_ to Hudson's Bay -- The Scheme of
Mackenzie a Failure -- A Ferocious Spirit Fostered -- Abandoned
Characters -- A Series of Outrages -- The Affair at Bad
Lake. 344
CHAPTER XXIX.--1808-1812.
Crisis in the Company's Affairs -- No Dividend Paid -- Petition
to Lords of the Treasury -- Factors Allowed a Share in the
Trade -- Canada Jurisdiction Act -- The Killing of MacDonnell
-- Mowat's Ill-treatment -- Lord Selkirk -- His Scheme laid
before the Company -- A Protest by Thwaytes and others -- The
Project Carried -- Emigrants sent out to Red River -- Northmen
Stirred to Reprisal. 361
CHAPTER XXX.--1812-1815.
The Bois-Brulés -- Simon McGillivray's Letter -- Frightening
the Settlers -- A Second Brigade -- Governor McDonnell's
Manifesto -- Defection of Northmen to the Company --
Robertson's Expedition to Athabasca -- Affairs at Red River --
Cameron and McDonell in Uniform -- Cuthbert Grant -- Miles
McDonnell Arrested -- Fort William -- News brought to the
Northmen -- Their confiscated account-books -- War of 1812
concluded. 383
CHAPTER XXXI.--1816-1817.
A New Brigade of Immigrants -- Robert Semple -- Cuthbert
Grant's Letter -- The De Meuron Regiment -- Assembling of the
Bois-Brulés -- Tragedy at Seven Oaks -- Selkirk at Fort William
-- McGillivray Arrested -- Arrest of the Northmen -- Selkirk
Proceeds to Red River. 404
CHAPTER XXXII.--1817-1821.
The English Government Intervenes -- Selkirk at Red River --
Makes a Treaty with the Indians -- Hostilities at Peace River
-- Governor Williams makes Arrests -- Franklin at York Factory
-- The Duke of Richmond Interferes -- Trial of Semple's
Murderers -- Death of Selkirk -- Amalgamation. 423
CHAPTER XXXIII.--1821-1847.
The Deed Poll -- A Governor-in-Chief Chosen -- A Chaplain
Appointed -- New License from George IV. -- Trade on the Pacific
Coast -- The Red River Country Claimed by the States -- The
Company in California -- The Oregon Question -- Anglo-Russian
Treaty of 1825 -- The _Dryad_ Affair -- Lieutenant Franklin's two
Expeditions -- Red River Territory Yielded to Company --
Enterprise on the Pacific. 436
CHAPTER XXXIV.--1846-1863.
The Oregon Treaty -- Boundary Question Settled -- Company
Proposes Undertaking Colonization of North America -- Enmity
and Jealousy Aroused -- Attitude of Earl Grey -- Lord Elgin's
Opinion of the Company -- Amended Proposal for Colonization
Submitted -- Opposition of Mr. Gladstone -- Grant of Vancouver
Island Secured, but Allowed to Expire in 1859 -- Dr. Rae's
Expedition -- The Franklin Expedition and its Fate -- Discovery
of the North-West Passage -- Imperial Parliament Appoints
Select Committee -- Toronto Board of Trade Petitions
Legislative Council -- Trouble with Indians -- Question of
Buying Out the Company -- British Government Refuses Help --
"Pacific Scheme" Promoters Meet Company in Official Interview
-- International Financial Association Buys Company's Rights --
Edward Ellice, the "Old Bear." 459
CHAPTER XXXV.--1863-1871.
Indignation of the Wintering-Partners -- Distrust and
Misgivings Arise -- Proposals of Governor Dallas for the
Compensation of the Wintering-Partners in Exchange for their
Abrogation of Deed Poll -- Threatened Deadlock -- Position of
those in Authority Rendered Untenable -- Failure of Duke of
Newcastle's Proposals for Surrender of Territorial Rights --
The Russo-American Alaskan Treaty -- The Hon. W. McDougall's
Resolutions -- Deputation Goes to England -- Sir
Stafford-Northcote becomes Governor -- Opinion of Lord
Granville as to the Position of Affairs -- Lack of Military
System Company's Weakness -- Cession now Inevitable -- Terms
Suggested by Lord Granville Accepted -- First Riel Rebellion --
Wolseley at Fort Garry. 481
CHAPTER XXXVI.--1821-1871.
The Company still King in the North-West -- Its Forts Described
-- Fort Garry -- Fort Vancouver -- Franklin -- Walla Walla --
Yukon -- Kamloops -- Samuel Black -- Mountain House -- Fort
Pitt -- Policy of the Great Company. 497
The Hudson's Bay Posts. 509
APPENDIX.
Royal Charter Incorporating the Hudson's Bay Company 515
The Alaska Boundary 527
Governors of the Hudson's Bay Company 531
Deputy-Governors of the Hudson's Bay Company 532
INDEX 533
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
FULL PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS.
Lord Strathcona and Mount Royal FRONTISPIECE.
FACING PAGE
Prince Rupert 32
Original Charter of The Great Company 48
Capt. Godey and Radisson 112
Marching out of the English Garrison 160
The Massacre of Jérémie's Men 192
The Bushranger and the Indians 337
Dog Brigade in the Far North 304
Tracking Canoes up the Rapids 368
Murder of Governor Semple 416
Sir George Simpson 432
Sir George Simpson receiving a Deputation 464
Interior Hudson's Bay Post 496
ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE TEXT.
PAGE
Early Map of North America 19
Radisson 25
Chart of Hudson's Straits 30
Prince Rupert 36
English Map of 1782 57
The Beaver 60
Arms of the Hudson's Bay Co. 67
Type of Early Trading Post 71
Bark Canoe of Indians on Hudson's Bay 74
Landing of Iberville's Men at Port Nelson 155
Ships on Hudson's Bay 160
French Encampment 163
Capture of Port Nelson by the French 167
Trading with the Indians 171
A Coureur des Bois 173
An Early River Pioneer 178
Facsimile of the Company's Standard of Trade 181
French Map of the Bay and Vicinity 215
Indian Tepee 218
An Assiniboine Indian 219
Indian with Tomahawk 220
Esquimau with Dogs 223
Modern Type of Indian 231
Type of Cree Indian 234
An Old Chief 237
Maldonado's Strait of Anian 246
Lapie's Map of 1821 247
Plans of York and Prince of Wales Forts 262
Map showing the Hays River 265
Fort Prince of Wales 281
A Blackfoot Brave 289
Alexander Henry 291
Dobbs' Map, 1744 301
Visit to an Indian Encampment 315
Indian Trappers 318
Ruins of Fort Prince of Wales 322
Sir Alexander Mackenzie 330
A Portage 337
De L'Isle's Map, 1752 345
The Rival Traders 353
York Factory 355
Lord Selkirk 372
Stornaway 380
A Bois-Brulé 384
Fort George (Astoria) 387
Arrival of the Upland Indians 388
On the way to Fort William 390
The Company's Ships in 1812 392
Fort Douglas, Red River 394
Scene of Red River Tragedy 411
Vicinity of Fort Douglas 414
Board Room, Hudson's Bay House 438
Red River Cart 441
Fur Train from the far North 446
Sir George Back, R.N. 451
Thomas Simpson 454
Hudson's Bay Company's Trade Tokens 458
Hudson's Bay Employees on their Annual Expedition 460
Opening of Cairn on Point Victory 467
Discovery of Relics of Franklin Expedition 468
Fort Prince of Wales 477
Fort Garry 482
Arrival of Hudson's Bay Ships at York Factory 498
Fort Pelly 499
Fort Simpson 501
York Factory 502
Father Lacombe 504
Gateway to Fort Garry 507
Sketch Map of South-East Alaska 527
THE GREAT COMPANY.
CHAPTER I.
1660-67.
Effect of the Restoration on Trade -- Adventurers at Whitehall
-- The East India Company Monopoly -- English interest in North
America -- Prince Rupert's claims -- The Fur Trade of Canada --
Aim of the Work.
That page in the nation's history which records the years immediately
following the Restoration of the Stewarts to the English throne, has
often been regarded as sinister and inauspicious. Crushed and broken
by the long strain of civil war, apparently bankrupt in letters,
commerce and arms, above all, sick of the restraints imposed upon them
by the Roundheads, the nation has too often been represented as
abandoning itself wholly to the pursuit of pleasure, while folly and
license reigned supreme at court. The almost startling rapidity with
which England recovered her pride of place in the commercial world has
been too little dwelt upon. Hardly had Charles the Second settled down
to enjoy his heritage when the spirit of mercantile activity began to
make itself felt once more. The arts of trade and commerce, of
discovery and colonization, which had languished under the Puritan
ascendancy, revived; the fever of "Imperial Expansion" burst out with
an ardour which no probability of failure was able to cool; and the
court of the "Merry Monarch" speedily swarmed with adventurers, eager
to win his favour for the advancement of schemes to which the chiefs
of the Commonwealth would have turned but a deaf ear.
Of just claimants to the royal bounty, in the persons of ruined
cavaliers and their children, there was no lack. With these there also
mingled, in the throng which daily beset the throne with petitions for
grants, charters, patents and monopolies,--returned free-booters,
buccaneers in embryo, upstarts and company-promoters. Every London
tavern and coffee-house resounded with projects for conquest, trade,
or the exploitation of remote regions.
From the news-letters and diaries of the period, and from the minutes
of the Council of Trade and the Royal Society, one may form an
excellent notion of the risks which zealous capital ran during this
memorable decade.
For two centuries and more mercantile speculation had been busy with
the far East. There, it was believed, in the realms of Cathay and
Hindustan, lay England's supreme market. A large number of the marine
expeditions of the sixteenth century were associated with an
enterprise in which the English nation, of all the nations in Europe,
had long borne, and long continued to bear, the chief part. From the
time of Cabot's discovery of the mainland in 1498, our mariners had
dared more and ventured oftener in quest of that passage through the
ice and barren lands of the New World which should conduct them to the
sunny and opulent countries of the East.
[Sidenote: English right to Hudson's Bay.]
The mercantile revival came; it found the Orient robbed of none of its
charm, but monopoly had laid its hand on East India. For over half a
century the East India Company had enjoyed the exclusive right of
trading in the Pacific between the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Horn,
and the merchants of London therefore were forced to cast about for
other fields of possible wealth. As far as North America was
concerned, the merest reference to a map of this period will reveal
the very hazy conception which then prevailed as to this vast
territory. Few courtiers, as yet, either at Whitehall or Versailles,
had begun to concern themselves with nice questions of frontier, or
the precise delimitation of boundaries in parts of the continent which
were as yet unoccupied, still less in those hyperborean regions
described by the mariners Frobisher, Button and Fox. To these
voyagers, themselves, the northern half of the continent was merely a
huge barrier to the accomplishment of their designs.
[Illustration: EARLY MAP OF NORTH AMERICA.]
Yet in spite of this destructive creed, it had long been a cardinal
belief in the nation that the English crown had by virtue of
Cabot's, and of subsequent discoveries, a right to such territories,
even though such right had never been actively affirmed.[1]
In the year 1664 the King granted the territory now comprised in the
States of New York, New Jersey and Delaware to his brother, the Duke
of York, and the courtiers became curious to know what similar mark of
favour would be bestowed upon his Majesty's yet unrewarded cousin,
Prince Rupert, Duke of Cumberland and Count Palatine of the Rhine.[2]
The Duke of York succeeded in wresting his new Transatlantic
possession from the Dutch, and the fur-trade of New Amsterdam fell
into English hands. Soon afterwards the first cargo of furs from that
region arrived in the Thames.
Naturally, it was not long before some of the keener-sighted London
merchants began to see behind this transaction vast possibilities of
future wealth. The extent of the fur-trade driven in Canada by the
French was no secret.[3] Twice annually, for many years, had vessels
anchored at Havre, laden with the skins of fox, marten and beaver,
collected and shipped by the Company of the Hundred Associates or
their successors in the Quebec monopoly. A feeling was current that
England ought by right to have a larger share in this promising
traffic, but, it was remarked, "it is not well seen by those cognizant
of the extent of the new plantations how this is to be obtained,
unless we dislodge the French as we have the Dutch, which his present
Majesty would never countenance."
Charles had little reason to be envious of the possession by his
neighbour Lewis, of the country known as New France.
[Sidenote: French fur-trade.]
Those tragic and melancholy narratives, the "Relations des Jesuites,"
had found their way to the English Court. From these it would seem
that the terrors of cold, hunger, hardships, and Indian hostility,
added to the cost and difficulties of civil government, and the
chronic prevalence of official intrigue, were hardly compensated for
by the glories of French ascendancy in Canada. The leading spirits of
the fur-trade then being prosecuted in the northern wilds, were well
aware that they derived their profits from but an infinitesimal
portion of the fur-trading territory; the advantages of extension and
development were perfectly apparent to them; but the difficulties
involved in dealing with the savage tribes, and the dangers attending
the establishment of further connections with the remote interior,
conspired to make them content with the results attained by the
methods then in vogue. The security from rivalry which was guaranteed
to them by their monopoly did not fail to increase their aversion to a
more active policy. Any efforts, therefore, which were made to extend
the French Company's operations were made by Jesuit missionaries, or
by individual traders acting without authority.
Such, in brief, was the state of affairs in the year 1666 when two
intrepid bushrangers, employees of the old Company,[4] dissatisfied
with their prospects under the new _régime_, sought their way out from
the depths of the wilderness to Quebec, and there propounded to the
Intendant, Jean Talon, a scheme for the extension of the fur-trade to
the shores of Hudson's Bay. This enterprising pair saw their project
rejected, and as a sequel to this rejection came the inception and
establishment of an English association,[5] which subsequently
obtained a charter from the King, under the name and title of "The
Governor and Company of Merchants-Adventurers trading into Hudson's
Bay."
To narrate the causes which first led to the formation of this
Company, the contemporary interest it excited, the thrilling
adventures of its early servants, of the wars it waged with the
French and drove so valiantly to a victorious end; its vicissitudes
and gradual growth; the fierce and bloody rivalries it combated
and eventually overbore; its notable expeditions of research by
land and sea; the character of the vast country it ruled and the
Indians inhabiting it; and last but not least, the stirring and
romantic experiences contained in the letters and journals of the
Great Company's factors and traders for a period of above two
centuries--such will be the aim and purpose of this work.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] "The great maritime powers of Europe," said Chief Justice
Marshall, "discovered and visited different parts of this Continent at
nearly the same time. The object was too immense for any of them to
grasp the whole; and the claimants were too powerful to submit to the
exclusive or unreasonable pretensions of any single potentate. To
avoid bloody conflicts, which might terminate disastrously to all, it
was necessary for the nations of Europe to establish some principle
which all would acknowledge and which would decide their respective
rights as between themselves. This principle, suggested by the actual
state of things, was, 'that discovery gave title to the Government by
whose subjects or by whose authority it was made, against all other
European governments, which title might be consummated by
possession.'"
[2] "Prince Rupert, we hear, is of no mind to press his Plantation
claims until this Dutch warre is over. A Jamaica pattent is spoke
of."--_Pleasant Passages_, 1665.
[3] As early as 1605, Quebec had been established, and had become an
important settlement; before 1630, the Beaver and several other
companies had been organized, at Quebec, for carrying on the fur-trade
in the West, near and around the Great Lakes and in the North-West
Territory; that the enterprise and trading operations of these French
Companies, and of the French colonists generally, extended over vast
regions of the northern and the north-western portions of the
continent; that they entered into treaties with the Indian tribes and
nations, and carried on a lucrative and extensive fur-trade with the
natives. In the prosecution of their trade and other enterprises these
adventurers evinced great energy, courage and perseverance. They had,
according to subsequent French writers, extended their hunting and
trading operations to the Athabasca country. It was alleged that some
portions of the Athabasca country had before 1640 been visited and
traded in, and to some extent occupied by the French traders in Canada
and their Beaver Company. From 1640 to 1670 these discoveries and
trading settlements had considerably increased in number and
importance.
[4] In 1663 the charter of the Compagnie des Cents Assocés, granted by
Richelieu in 1627, was ceded to the Crown. In 1665 the new Association
"La Compagnie des Indes Occidentals" received its charter.
[5] "Several noblemen and other public-spirited Englishmen, not
unmindful of the discovery and right of the Crown of England to those
parts in America, designed at their own charge to adventure the
establishing of a regular and constant trade in Hudson's Bay, and to
settle forts and factories, whereby to invite the Indian nations (who
live like savages, many hundred leagues up the country), down to their
factories, for a constant and yearly intercourse of trade, which was
never attempted by such settlements, and to reside in that
inhospitable country, before the aforesaid English adventurers
undertook the same."--_Company's Memorial_, 1699.