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; 7- 
 
 THE ROMANTIC vSTORY OF A GREAT 
 CORPORATION. 
 
 (The Hudson's Bay Trading Company.) — Part I. 
 
 By J. Macdonald Oxley. 
 
 THERE has been a romance of commerce no less than a romance of war. 
 Men have shown an equal enterpri.se and daring in enlarging incomes as in 
 extending the bounds of empire, and gold has run clo.se rivalry with glory in 
 adding brilliant pages to the world's historj-. 
 
 Unquestionably the most striking chapters in the romance of commerce relate 
 to two remarkable corporations, which, though having much in common in their 
 constitution and powers, were singularly dissimilar in the nature of their domain 
 and character of their product. The\' both had their birth in England in the 
 seventeenth century. They both were nominally mere trading associations, hav- 
 ing nothing more ambitious in view than the securing of large dividends for their 
 shareholders, yet in reality held almo.st imperial sway over imcounted leagues of 
 territory . The}- were both the subject of fierce attacks that at times put their very 
 existence in jeopardy, and in the end they had both to succumb to the resistless 
 march of civilization, which in these latter days, when the ends of the earth are 
 drawing nearer together, could not tolerate the idea of commercial corporations 
 keeping to themselves vast landed possessions fit to be the homes of nations. 
 So much had the.se two mighty corporations alike; but while the one bargained, 
 intri^ied, fought, and waxed opulent under the burning rays of an Oriental sun, 
 the other pursued a quieter though hardly less prosperous career amidst the snowy 
 wilderness of this western world. It is the stor>- of the latter which I shall attempt 
 to outline on the ])resent paper. 
 
 It was in the merry days of the Restoration, when the second Charles might well 
 be lavish toward those who had faithfully served his father "of sacred memory." 
 that to a hero of many battles, retired upon his laurels to spend a well-earned 
 furlough in fascinating if not particularly fruitful chemical experiments, a])peared 
 one Des Oroseliers, an enterprising Frenchman who had traveled much in 
 North America, and made acquaintance with the Indian tribes inhabiting the 
 southern part of the Ilud.son Bay region. Monsieur Des (iroseliers' story was cal- 
 culated to fire the heart of a less adventurous being than Prince Rupert, whose 
 attention had, indeed, been already drawn to that lirra iiia\i>iiita, by reading in 
 Marco Polo how the renowned N'enetian traveler found in the tent of the (irand 
 Khan of Tartary furs and sables "brought from the Xor^h, the land of darkness," 
 and had thereby stirred within him the thought of w.'mt a splendid .scheme it 
 would be to put forth an organized effort to tap this treasury of precious jjcltries. 
 The Frenchman found an interested listener ; and the sequel was that after an 
 
 i 
 
3a6 
 
 THE ROMANTIC STORY OF A GREAT CORPORATION. 
 
 experimental trip had been made, in 1668, 
 with encouraging nisults, a joint-stock 
 company of noblemen and gentry, with 
 " our dear and entirely beloved cousin. 
 Prince Rupert, Count Palatine of the 
 Rhine," as its leading spirit, was fonned 
 under the imposing title of "The Hon- 
 orable Governor and Company of Mer- 
 chant Adventurers Trading into Hud- 
 son's Bay," and having for its motto 
 the words ''Pro pelle cutem" — an ap- 
 plication of Scripture whose wit and 
 felicity it would not be easy to Parallel. 
 This corporation in the year 670 ob- 
 tained from the free-handed king a char- 
 ter investing it with the monopoly of the 
 furs and lands of all the borders of all the 
 streams flowing into Hudson's Bay, not 
 occupied by the subject of any Christian 
 prjnce ; and furthermore, the privilege to 
 make war and peace with the people not 
 .Subjects of any Christian prince. The 
 nominal consideration for this royal 
 bounty was the annual payment of two 
 elks and two black beavers, which, how- 
 ever, were onlj' to be exacted when the 
 sovereign should happen to be within the 
 territories granted. It is immensely to 
 the credit of the Hudson's Bay Company 
 that these practically unlimited powers 
 were from the first wielded with marked 
 moderation, humanity, and equity ; so 
 that, without in any wise intending it, 
 the corporation undoubtedly became a 
 factor of inestimable value in the subse- 
 quent peaceable occupation of the north- 
 west by the white settlers. 
 
 The first post established by the com- 
 pany was Moose Factory, at the mouth of 
 the river running into the extreme south 
 of James Bay ; Forts Albany, York, and 
 Churchill, commanding the whole west- 
 em shore of Hudson's Bay, followed in due 
 time, and each succeeding year found the 
 company waxing more prosperous and 
 powerful. They were not, however, to 
 have it all their own w^ay, remote as the 
 field of their operations might seem to be 
 from centers of human interest. The 
 value of the Hudson's Bay territories was 
 by no means unknown to the French, who 
 were then masters of Canada ; and long 
 before Prince Rupert acted as the pro- 
 moter of the English company a charter 
 had been conferred by Louis XIII. upon a 
 number of his subjects, containing terms 
 almost identical with those granted by 
 
 his "dear cousin" Charles. Thus was 
 the Company of New France founded, on 
 the 27th of .April, 1627. 
 
 Nor were the pretensions of the French 
 without foundation. Fourteen years be- 
 fore the date of the Hudson's Bay Com- 
 pany's charter, Jean Bourdon, sometime 
 chief engineer and Procureur of New 
 France, claimed to have penetrated over- 
 land as far as the shore of the bay, and 
 to have taken possession of the neighbor- 
 ing territories in the name of Louis XIV. ; 
 and six years later the Des Groseliers 
 alreadj' mentioned did, without doubt, 
 reach the bay by .<!ea, and establish a 
 trading-post there ; while the following 
 year Desprbs Couture, if he is to be 
 relied upon, made his waj'^ overland to 
 the bay, and buried, at the foot of a big 
 tree, a French flag, a sword, and a plate 
 of copper, having engraved upon it the 
 arms of the French king, in token of 
 the occupation of the country in his maj- 
 esty's name. If these interesting relics 
 could only be resurrected now how pre- 
 cious they would be. Under these cir- 
 cumstances the French could hardly be 
 blamed for contesting the occupation of 
 the country by the English company, and 
 in 1686 the renowned Sieur d' Iberville, 
 supported bj' two of his hardly less 
 famous brothers, headed a hostile expedi- 
 tion into the ba}', which captured three 
 out of the five forts established by the 
 company, and several of its vessels into 
 the bargain. 
 
 This was the beginning of a warfare 
 which waged intermittently between the 
 two powers, with varying success, for 
 m tre than a century, and seriously inter- 
 fered with the operations of the company, 
 whose forts were occupied, trade inter- 
 rupted, and energies weakened from time 
 to time. Nevertheless, although the 
 records show that between 1682 and 1688 
 its losses amounted to one hundred and 
 twenty thousand pounds, so enormous 
 were the profits upon its operations that 
 its annual dividends averaged from 
 twenty-five to fifty per cent., and the 
 stock soon became the most ' ' gilt-edged ' ' 
 investment of the day, the shares being 
 practically ti^ver in the market, but 
 jealously retained as heirlooms, and 
 handed down from father to son after the 
 fashion of entailed estates. 
 
 The last and most notable act in the 
 
THE ROMANTIC STORY OF A GREAT CORPORATION. 
 
 Sfl 
 
 PRINCE OF WALES SOUND. 
 
 drama of war of which Hudson's Bay 
 formed the theater was the capture of 
 Fort Prince of Wales, in 178^, by the 
 famous French admiral, La Pferouse. This 
 splendid structure, which took twenty- 
 five years to build, was intended to guard 
 the entrance to Churchill Harbor. It 
 was about four hundred feet square, with 
 masonr}' walls six feet thick and twent}- 
 feet high, and the black muzzles of fort\'- 
 two cannon thrust themselves threaten- 
 ingly through its entrance. Yet, when 
 La Perouse appeared before it in a seventy- 
 four, accompanied by two frigates, and 
 summoned it to yield, Governor Hearne, 
 evidently deeming discretion the better 
 part of valor, lowered the British flag, 
 that had been floating proudly in the 
 breeze, and replaced it with a table-cloth 
 in token of complete surrender. The 
 conqueror spiked the cannon, partially 
 destroyed the walls, and sailed awaj' with 
 the garrison as \ ri.soners of war. The 
 damage done by him was never renaired, 
 and the old fort stands to-da}*, probably 
 the most imposing ruin of the kind on 
 the continent, with the guns that were 
 never fired still rusting upon the ram- 
 parts, and cannon-balls, balked of their 
 mission, strewing the interior. 
 
 One would naturally expect that, so 
 soon as they had obtained a firm foot- 
 hold on the shore of Hudson's Bay, the 
 
 ofiicials of the company would seek to 
 penetrate into the vast region stretching 
 out indefinitely to the west and south, 
 from which the Indians, with whom they 
 dealt, drew their supplies of precious pel- 
 tries. But such was not the case ; on the 
 contrary, they were very slow to venture 
 away from the sight of the sea, although 
 the managers in England were mo.st anx- 
 ious for them to pash inland, oflfering 
 special rewards to those who should take 
 part in such expeditions, and pensions to 
 the widows of all whose lives might pay 
 forfeit for their enterprise. The men 
 themselves were not so much to blame for 
 this inaction as the organization of the 
 companj'. It was, as Father Drummoiid 
 shrewdly indicates, too wooden, too much 
 on the London counting-hou,se plan. 
 There was r.o spontaneity, no adjusting 
 of means to an altered environment, noth- 
 ing of what Parkm.in calls " that pliant 
 and plastic temper which, in the French, 
 forms so marked a contrast to the stub- 
 born spiritof the Knglishman." With a 
 view to i.solating their ofiicials, the com- 
 pan}' forbade them entering an Indian 
 lodge. At lea.st one man was flogged for 
 lighting his pipe at an Indian's tent. 
 The factors feared the interior as a land of 
 unknown danger. Terrible stories were 
 circulated, to keep up a dread of the In- 
 dians and the French. Minute instruc- 
 
 \4^i lo 
 
^i ■ 
 
 328 
 
 THE ROMANTIC STOR V OF A ORE A T CORPORA TION. 
 
 tions were given to the men to protect 
 themselves, especially in the winter. 
 Scouts were to reconnoiter every clay, and 
 did they not return by niu^htfall, every- 
 thing was to be got ready for a siege. At 
 all times the cannon were to be in order, 
 and all obstructions that might impede 
 the view from the fort were to be cleared 
 awa\-. 
 
 Hampered by these restrictions, which 
 were as unnecessary as they were burden- 
 some, the officials naturally enough pre- 
 ferred the c(mifortable, if commonplace, 
 life at the forts to the discomforts, diffi- 
 culties, and dangers inseparible from ex- 
 peditions into the interior. Thus it came 
 about that more than a centur\' elapsed 
 before they first made their way into the 
 Red River region, which subsequently 
 became the center of their operations. 
 But, in the mean time, the French Cana- 
 dians were showing a far different spirit. 
 Knowing nothing about the exclusive 
 privileges of the compan3', or caring less 
 if they did happen to be informed, their 
 connurs du bois, following in the track of 
 La Verandrye, year bj- year, in increasing 
 numbers, set out from Montreal, a.scended 
 the Ottawa, made their waj- \>\ portage, 
 lake, and stream to Lake Nipissing, 
 thence into the greater Lake Huron, 
 across that inland ocean, Lake Superior, 
 to its farthe.st .shore, where the Kaminis- 
 tiquia was entered, and the voyage con- 
 tinued through Lac la Pluie (Rainy Lake) 
 and river, over I<ac du Bcis (Lake of the 
 Woods), and down the River Ouinipique 
 (Winnipeg) into the lake of the same 
 name, thus reaching the borders of the 
 fertile prairies, where the buffalo took the 
 place of the deer, and which rolled away 
 in billows of verdure until they broke at 
 the ba.se of the Rockv Mountains, where 
 the terrible grizzly met the trappers with 
 fearless front. 
 
 These courcurs dn hois were perfectly 
 adapted for their business. They always 
 maintained the best of terms with the In- 
 dians. They treated them as their equals. 
 " With that light-hearted bravery and 
 cheerful fortitude .so common among the 
 descendants of the French," writes one 
 of their eulogi,sts, "they sought out the 
 savage in his wigwam. They often spent 
 the whole winter with him, bearing wit' 
 all his rudeness and caprices, and win- 
 ning their way to his heart before they 
 
 asked foi his furs. Quick to learn the 
 Indian languages and the tricks of In- 
 dian life, fertile in expedients, they were 
 loyal and warm-hearted to the core. 
 They were not mere calculating-machines 
 or animated money-bags. In.stead of 
 waiting for the savage, they met him on 
 his own ground, and began by making 
 him presents of trinkets and tobacco, and 
 not until the\- had him in good-humor did 
 thej' broach the question of trade." 
 
 Naturally enough, the Indian very much 
 preferred dealing with these fascinating 
 fellows, who came right to his wigwam, 
 to traveling away up to the Hudson's Bay 
 fort, where he would be stiffly received by 
 an official who spoke to him through a 
 barred window, and whose manner seemed 
 to say : ' ' Be off as .soon as you are fleeced, ' ' 
 and the consequence was that the pick of 
 the peltry found its way into the hands 
 of the French, and went bj' the overland 
 route to Montreal, while only the beaver 
 and otter skins got up to Hudson's Bay. 
 It was not long before the managers of 
 the company realized that this state of 
 things must not be permitted to continue, 
 and again and again we find the (General 
 Court writing to the factors and urging 
 upon them the necessitj- of .securing other 
 furs Ihan beaver and otter. In response 
 to these repeated demands, the factors 
 sought to extend the sphere of their opera- 
 tions by establishing forts farther inland. 
 As, year by year, they thui made their 
 way to the south and west, it could only 
 be a question of time when they must 
 encounter the ever-increasing stream of 
 expeditions which had their source in 
 Montreal ; and the first meeting did take 
 place in the year 1774 at Fort Cumberland, 
 on the Saskatchewan River. " In that 
 \ear," .says Professor Brjxe, "the two 
 rival currents of trade, Canadian and 
 English, met in the far northwest, and the 
 struggle between them began, which for 
 well-nigh fifty years went unceasinglj' on, 
 now in dangerous eddy, then in boiling 
 whirlpool, till at length as one stream 
 they flowed on together in one course." 
 
 The .struggle thus referred to forms the 
 most exciting portion of the hi.story of 
 the Hudson's Ba}' Company, and at the 
 same time the portion concerning which, 
 owing to the bewildering variety of con- 
 tradictory evidence, it is most difficult to 
 arrive at clear and satisfactory conclu- 
 
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 A CUL'KIvUR DU liUIS. 
 
 I 
 
 sionp. Tlu 
 
 of course, lookc' , of the furs tliuy secured were undoubtedly 
 
 le company, ^. — -, , 
 
 upon the Canadian traders as unauthor , o1)lained from Indians whose huntin<r- 
 
 ized invaders of its territory, for the bulk 
 24 
 
 Ljrounds came within the terms of the 
 
 I 
 
 
^ ■a— Mfcl 
 
 330 
 
 THE kOMANIIC S/OA'Y (H-- .1 (.Rli.lT CORlX)RATH)N. 
 
 company's charter. Not only so, but 
 these intruders were jjiiilty f)f interceptinjjf 
 Indians on their way to the forts ; and, 
 what made the matter worse, the furs the 
 red man 1)ore were alreadj* ])ledjrt'd to 
 the company for advances made them. 
 Now, the Hudson's Hay officials were 
 not the men to endure this .sort oi" thinjf 
 in silence. I'or the mo.st part they were 
 Scotchmen of the .sturdiest tyjjc, and the 
 aj!^}^ressions of the Canadians, vScotch 
 thoufi^h many of them were, also, arou.sed 
 in them an an}.;ry spirit which could lead 
 but in one direction. vSooner or later the 
 matter mu.st resolve itself into a question 
 of force, and in the mean time they were 
 read}' to say with Wordsworth that 
 
 "... tlie Kood old rule 
 Sufficf'Mi tlieiu, the simple plan, 
 That they should take who have the power, 
 And they should keep who can." 
 
 It woidd appear that the Canadians 
 disputed the right of the company to 
 e.Nercise any monojwly in the northwest, 
 and in i)roi)ortion to the weakness of 
 their position were stronjj in its reiter- 
 ation. It seems equally clear that from 
 the first the\- did not hesitate to resort to 
 violence and intiniidati(m in order to jjain 
 their ends. But the worst feature of all 
 was 'heir introdur*"'^" 'f fire-water into 
 the.se territories, . hitherto had 
 
 known nothinj^ ofl .ity's chief cur.se. 
 
 Owinjj to the advantages of its position, 
 the conipan\- was able to offer higher 
 prices to the Indians than its rivals 
 could, and, in order the better to obtain 
 and retain control of the poor red man, 
 the latter resorted to the importation of 
 
 FORT GARRY, 187I. 
 
 •spirits, for which he at once manifested 
 the frantic passion that was hing dor- 
 mant awaiting the advent of the temp- 
 ter. It had been from the first a leading 
 I)rincii)le of the company that no .spirits 
 should on any account be sold to the 
 Indians, and it is one of the brightest 
 leaves in their laurels that their officials 
 .so long adhered to this in spite of many 
 tem|)tations. 
 
 Close u])()n the introduction of the 
 accunsed fire-water into their dealings 
 the elements of violence and bloodshed, 
 hitherto happily unknown, began to 
 manifest them.selves between the red 
 man and his white brother. The mo.st 
 daring and turbulent spirits were now 
 attracted to the Canadian fur trade, and if 
 we follow I'rofes.sor Bryce, the chief quali- 
 ties sought in those sent out from Mon- 
 treal were a love of violence and a thor- 
 ough hatred of the Hudson's \\a.y Com- 
 pany. They were not long, however, in 
 finding out their folly in resorting to 
 strong drink as a means of increasing 
 their trade, for while it did undoubtedl}- 
 give them a temporary advantage over 
 the company, retribution followed fast. 
 In the year 1780, at Kagle Hills, on the 
 vSaskatchewan, the rendezvous of the 
 Montreal traders, a liberal allowance of 
 grog was bestowed u])on a large l)and of 
 Indians, and one of the traders, who had 
 had some trouble with a chief, put a big 
 dose of laudanum into his glass by wa\- 
 of subduing his aggressiveness. The 
 experiment proved a complete success in 
 that regard, for the Indian never awak- 
 ened from the drunken stupor into which 
 he immediately fell. 
 But his friends .and 
 followers, not ap- 
 preciating the situ- 
 ation, aro.se in their 
 wrath, attacked the 
 camp, killed the 
 offending trader as 
 well as several of 
 the men, and .sent 
 the survivors flying 
 for their lives, leav- 
 ing a finecollectior 
 of valuable f u r s 
 behind. .V litt'e 
 later, two jiosts on 
 the \ s s i n i b o . n e 
 River were attac ked 
 
 if 
 
 V 
 
THE ROMANTIC STORY OF A GREAT CORI'ORATION. 
 
 331 
 
 and a nninber of traders and Indians powerful and well-intrenched was the 
 
 slain in the strujfjjle. These lamentable company that onl\- an orjjanization of 
 
 events were but the beginning of sorrows, corresponding magnitude and resources 
 
 Thenceforth, matters went from bad to could hope to successfully cope with it. 
 
 worse, until at length the business be- From this necessity sprang, in the year 
 
 MAMULELKAKK VILLAGK. 
 
 came utterly disorganized, and the traders 
 bankrupt in purse and morals alike. 
 
 In the mean time the company had not 
 been slow in defending its interests. It 
 was not according to human nature that 
 its sturdy .Scotchmen shotild remain in- 
 different spectators of unscrui)ulous en- 
 deavors to cut the ground from inulertheir 
 feet. The}' had already shown their abil- 
 ity to protect their interests by more than 
 one device. Hy fomenting divisions and 
 animosities among the Indian tribes in 
 the interior they had made it difficult and 
 dangerous for any one but themselves to 
 trade with them. They had even gone so 
 far upon one occasion as to seize and drive 
 ashore two ships that had ventured into 
 Hud.son's ^Jay on a trading expedition, 
 pleading i.i extenuation that the vessels 
 were lost through st\ ess of weather. And 
 now they bent all their energies to the 
 task of opposing, hindering, and ruining 
 the petty rivals who had the presumption 
 to encroach upon their domain. The lat- 
 ter soon realized the necessity of combi- 
 nation if they would not be driven out. .So 
 
 I7<S3, the famous Northwest Fur Company 
 ofMontreal, which, beginning with a mere 
 partnership of the jirincipal merchants 
 engaged in the fur trade, developed with 
 astonishing growth until it i)ositively 
 overshadowed its elder rival . The method 
 of the Hud.son's Bay Company was to pay 
 its employes simply by salary, but the 
 new company introduced a better sy.stem 
 — every officer had before him the im- 
 mense inducement of a probable partner- 
 ship, for thus were the faithful and ener- 
 getic ones by due i)rocess of promotion 
 rewarded. This masterly policy kept 
 ever}- man up to the high water mark of 
 his abilities, and the result was that in a 
 few \ears from the inception of this enter- 
 I^rise the annual profits had reached the 
 splendid figure of forty thousand pounds, 
 while ten years later they were tliree times 
 that amount. The conservative old II. B. 
 Company was astonished at the magnifi- 
 cence of the new-comers, and old traders 
 yet talk of the lordly "Northwester." 
 Washington Irving, who was a gue.st of 
 the company in the height of its prosper- 
 
3?>2 
 
 /'//-: ROMANTIC STONY OF A (.RE A I CORPORA 7 ION. 
 
 ! 
 
 ity, has jjiven us a charaotcristically 
 jjraphic record of his inipressions. 
 
 The principal ])artners, who resi(k<l in 
 Montreal and (juebec, formed a kind of 
 commercial aristocracy, livinj^ in lordly 
 and hospit.'ible style. Their only associ- 
 ations were clerks at the remote tra<lin<j^- 
 posts ; and tlie pleasures, dan,tjers, adven- 
 tures, and mishaps which they had shared 
 tojjether in their wild-wood life had 
 linked them heartil}' to each other, so 
 that they formed a convivial fraternity. 
 I'ew travelers that have visited Canada in 
 the days of the McTavishes, the Mc(iilli- 
 vrajs, the McKen/.ies, the p'robi.shers, and 
 the other majrnates of the Northwest, 
 wlien the comi)any was in all its jjlory, 
 but niu.st remember the round of feastinjf 
 and revelry kejit uj) amonij the hyper- 
 borean nabobs. 
 
 Sometimes oneortwo])artJiers, recently 
 from the interior jjosts, would make their 
 appearance in New York, in the course of 
 a tour of])leasure and curiosity. On the.se 
 occasions there was ahvajs a dej^ree of 
 majjnificence of the purse about them, 
 and a peculiar ])roi)ensity to expenditure 
 at the jjoldsmiths and jewelers for rings, 
 chains, brooches, watches, and other rich 
 trinkets — a j^orj^eous i)rodif;^alit_\' such as 
 was often to be noticed in former times 
 in Southern planters and West India Cre- 
 oles, when flush with the profits of their 
 plantations. 
 
 To behold the Northwest Company in 
 all its state and j^randeur, however, it was 
 necessary to witness an annual jjathering 
 at the great interior place of conference 
 established at I'ort William, near what is 
 called the (irand Portage of I.ake vSupe- 
 rior. Here two or three of the leading 
 partners from Montreal proceeded once a 
 
 
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 year to meet the j)artners from tlie various 
 trading-po.stsof the wilderness, to oi.scu.ss 
 the afl'airsof the comj)any during the pre- 
 ceding year, and to arrange plans for the 
 future. 
 
 On the.se occasions might be seen the 
 change since the unceremonious times of 
 the old l*"r»..ich traders and the roinrtirs 
 if II /wis, for now the aristocratic character 
 of the IJriton .shone forth magnTtlcently, 
 or, rather, the feudal sjjirit of the Higli- 
 lander. ICvery partner who had charge 
 of an interior post, and a .score of retain- 
 ers at his command, felt like the chief- 
 tain of a Iligliland clan, and was almost 
 as important in the eyes of his dependants 
 asof 'limself. Tohini a visit to the grand 
 conference at I'ort William was a most 
 important event, and he repaired thither 
 as to a meeting of Parliament. 
 
 The jjartners from Montreal, hoA-ever, 
 were the lords of the ascendant. Coming 
 from the micl.st o<"lnxinious and o,stenta- 
 tious life they quite eclipsed their com jieers 
 from the v.cxxls, whose forms and faces had 
 been 1)attered and hardened by hard liv- 
 ing and hard ser\ice. Indeed, the part- 
 ners from below considered the whole dig- 
 nity of the company as represented in 
 their jjcrsons, and conducted themselves 
 in suitable style. They ascended the 
 river in great .state, like .sovereigns mak- 
 ing a i)rogress. They were wrapped 
 in red furs, their huge canoes freighted 
 with ever}- convenience and luxury, and 
 manned bj- Canadian voyageurs as obedi- 
 ent as Highland clan.smen. Thej- carried 
 with them their cooks and barbers, to- 
 gether with delicacies of everv' kind, and 
 abundance of choice wines for the ban- 
 quets which attended this convocation. 
 Hap])y were they, too, if they could have 
 some di.stingui,shed 
 stranger s — above 
 all, some member 
 of the British no- 
 bility — to grace 
 their high solemni- 
 ties. 
 
 Fort William, the 
 .scene of this imjjor- 
 tant annual meet- 
 ing, was a consider- 
 able village on the 
 farther shore of 
 I<ake Superior. 
 
 (7ti be cuHcludeiti 
 
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 I 
 
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 OUW >^> V 
 
 ■ (J 
 
 FORT DUNVEOAN, ATHABASCA. 
 
 THE ROMANTIC STORY OF A GREAT CORPORATION. 
 (The Hudson's Bay Trading Company.)— P.^'lT II. {Conclusion.) 
 
 Bv J. Macdonald Oxlky. 
 
 k the 
 
 iiic'et- 
 Isider- 
 In the 
 We of 
 
 fed.) 
 
 AS I have already pointed out, the 
 Hudson's Bay Company was slow in 
 extending its operations beyond the re- 
 gion dirccLi\ tributary to the bay, and its 
 officials seemed to prefer that the Indians 
 should come to them instead of their 
 going out to seek the Indians. But now 
 the Nor- Westers pushed away north and 
 west until thej' not onlj' touched the feet 
 of the Rocky Mountains, but fearlessly 
 scaled that mighty barrier, and floated 
 upon the waters of the Peace River. At 
 the first they met with no active opposi- 
 tion from their older rivals, and it is 
 possible that the two organizations might 
 never have come into active conflict but 
 for a series of events, not directly con- 
 nected with the fur trade, which precipi- 
 tated the struggle. Lord Selkirk was a 
 philanthropic Scotch nobleman, whose 
 kind heart was stirred to its depths by 
 the woes of his fellow-countrymen at the 
 times of the " Highland clearances," and 
 he determined to devote his resources to 
 finding for some of them, at least, the 
 opportunity in the New World across the 
 Atlantic "to redress the balance of the 
 Old." He had heard of the wonderful 
 prairies of the North-West, waiting only 
 to be tickled with the hoe to make them 
 laugh into abundant harvests ; and after 
 planting a successful colony in Prince 
 Edward island, he forwarded another 
 instalment of emigrants, via Hudson's 
 
 Bay, to the plains of the Red River, 
 establishing a colon j' there, which in 
 later jears became the nucleus of a new 
 province. 
 
 The North-West Company at once took 
 alarm. It wanted those fertile plains 
 preserved as hunting-grounds, and did 
 no. relish the idea of their being popu- 
 lated by the overflowing thousands of 
 Great Britain. Every possible obstacle 
 was placed in the way of the colonists. 
 Intimidation, and even violence, were 
 resorted to, and the lives of the poor 
 emigrants filled with terror. This con- 
 duct strongly incensed the good earl 
 against the new company, and, to enable 
 him the better to punish them, he bought 
 all the Hudson's Bay Company's stock he 
 could obtain, until, holding some forty 
 thou.sand pounds' worth out of a capital 
 of one hundred and five thousand pounds, 
 he had the controlling interest. At once 
 he began to exert himself against the 
 obnoxious Nor-We.sters. Rousing up 
 the Hudson Bays from their lethargy 
 he instituted a vigorous competition. 
 Wherever the former established a fort, 
 the latter built another near by. Every 
 method which artifice, fraud, or even 
 violence could suggest was adopted, to 
 outwit each other and to obtain the furs 
 of the Indians, who did not care what 
 company got their furs so long as they 
 were well paid for them. Ballantyne re- 
 
4o6 
 
 THE ROMANTIC STORY OF A GREAT CORPORATION. 
 
 \\\ 
 
 lates some amusing stories of the ruses 
 resorted to by the rivals. 
 
 On one occasion, the Hudson's Bay 
 scouts reported the approach of a band of 
 Indians returning from a hunting ex- 
 pedition. No sooner was tiiis heard than 
 a grand ball was given to the Nor- West- 
 ers. Great preparations were made for 
 it, and a royal time was had. But while 
 the revelers were tripping the light fan- 
 tastic toe to the riusic of Scotch reels 
 and strathspeys, a score of earnest men 
 were busily at work in a secluded spot, 
 packing sledges with goods and prepar- 
 ing for a journe\ . Soon they start off 
 silently, no tinkling of bells, no cracking 
 of whips, no shouts to the dogs, as they 
 disappear into the darkness, while the 
 ball goes merrily on. The following day 
 the Nor-West scouts report the same 
 part3' of Indians, and as quickly as possi- 
 ble a set of sleighs depart from their fort 
 with loudly ringing bells. After a long 
 march of forty miles they reach the en- 
 campment, only to find all the Indians 
 gloriously drunk, and not a single skin, 
 not even the tail of a musquash, to repay 
 them for their trouble. Then it was that 
 they perceived the true inwardness of the 
 ball, and vowed to have their revenge. 
 
 Opportunity was not long wanting. 
 Soon after this, one of their parties en- 
 countered a Hudson's Ba3' train on its way 
 to trade with the same Indians of whom 
 they were in search. They exchanged 
 compliments with each other, and as the 
 day was very cold, proposed lighting a 
 fire, and having something to drink to- 
 gether. A huge fire was soon roaring in 
 their midst, the canteens were produced, 
 and they each tried who could tell the 
 biggest yarns while the good liquor 
 mounted to their brains. The Nor- West- 
 ers, after a little time, spilled their grog 
 on the snow, unperceived by the others, 
 so that they kept fairly sober, although 
 their rivals were becoming very much 
 elevated. At last they began boasting of 
 their superior prowess in drinking, and 
 in proof thereof each of them swallowed 
 a big bumper. The Hudson Rays, not to 
 be oxitdone, followed their example, and 
 almost instantly fell over upon the snow 
 helplessly drunk. In ten minutes more 
 they were tied firmly upon their sledges, 
 and the dogs being turned honiewards, 
 away they went straight for the Hudson's 
 
 Bay fort, where in due time they safely ar- 
 rived with the men still .sound asleep, 
 while the Nor- Westers made haste for the 
 Indian camp, and this time had the furs 
 all to themselves. 
 
 But such convivial and friendl}- devices 
 to outwit each other soon gave way to 
 more reprehensible proceedings. As the 
 competition grew keener the temper of the 
 rivals waxed hotter, and, ere long, forts 
 were attacked, taken, and burnt, the oflH- 
 cials and their adherents imprisoned and 
 harshly treated, the furs, on their way to 
 the rendezvous, intercepted, and appropri- 
 ated by main strength, if necessar\', and 
 the whole trade turned into a furious con- 
 flict. The Governor-General of Canada 
 sent out warrants and proclamations, in 
 vain. These were alike treated with sov- 
 ereign contempt in that distant land, 
 where "the king's writ runneth not;" 
 for both sides well knew that he had 
 no means of putting his high-sounding 
 words into action. So matters went from 
 bad to wor.se until, in the year 1816, they 
 reached a climax in a battle royal, which 
 look place before the gates of Fort Garry, 
 the Hudson Bays' principal post in the 
 Red River region, and in which lament- 
 able affair seventeen men and three offi- 
 cers of the compan}', including Governor 
 Semple, fell, pierced with bullets. 
 
 Yet even this dreadful occurrence did 
 not at once abate the conflict. All parley 
 was now at an end, and the password was 
 "war to the knife." Officers and men 
 were engaged hy the companies, princi- 
 pall}' with a view to their fighting quali- 
 ties, and more interest was taken in a 
 successful encounter than in a profitable 
 barter. Such a state of affairs could not 
 long continue. The whole trade was being 
 ruined, the Indians were becoming de- 
 moralized with fire-water, the prices paid 
 for the peltries were out of all proportion 
 to the value. The cooler heads of the 
 concern then saw their opportunit}', and 
 negotiations were entered into, which, in 
 1821, resulted in their giving up conflict 
 for coalition, and being united, with the 
 approval of Parliament, under the name of 
 the older company, some additional privi- 
 leges being granted at the same time. 
 Soon after the coalition, a shrewd young 
 Scotchman, who had been sent out from 
 London to examine the condition of 
 things, showed such aptitude for business 
 
THE ROMANTIC STORY OF A GREAT CORPORATION. 407 
 
 I 
 
 IIHINGING Fl'RS TO TIIK I'OKT, 
 
 and .such fertility of resource that he was Rupert's Land. " It was a great rcspon- 
 put at the head of affairs in North Amer- sibility," writes Professor Bryce, "for 
 lea, with the title of Governor-in-Chief of young and inexperienced George Simp- 
 
ic8 
 
 THE ROMANTIC STORY OF A GREAT CORPORATION. 
 
 
 
 I '<-^ ' 
 
 "^^ 
 
 son to undertake 
 the management of 
 so great a concern, 
 to reconcile men 
 who had been in 
 arms against each 
 other, and to bring 
 their trade from the 
 brink of ruin to a 
 successful issue. 
 Yet for forty years 
 he remained at the 
 helm, and with 
 such marked suc- 
 cess as to have the 
 honor of knight- 
 hood conferred 
 upon him, in token 
 of his services. He 
 was the virtual 
 ruler of about half 
 of North America, 
 and, though an 
 autocrat, held the 
 reins of power to 
 the last with un- 
 slackening grasp. 
 Small in stature, he 
 was of indomitable 
 j;erseverance, albeit 
 somewhat i m - 
 patient in temper. 
 It is told of him — 
 and one may say 
 of the story 'si 
 non t vero ; ' it is at 
 least ' ben trovato ' 
 — that, on one occa- 
 sion, while passi^ig 
 through the Lake 
 of the Woods, and 
 urging his crew 
 overmuch, a power- 
 ful French voya- 
 geur, his right- 
 hand man, became 
 so incensed at his 
 unreasoning de- 
 mands that he 
 seized him by the 
 neck, 1 ifted him 
 over the gunwale, 
 plunged him 
 into the water, and 
 then drew him 
 dripping in again, 
 to be, for the re- 
 
 mainder of that voyage, a more consider- 
 ate master. ' ' 
 
 Under Sir George Simpson's sway, the 
 story of the company was one of peace, 
 prosperity, and progress. The infusion 
 of North-West blood and capital gave it 
 most vigorous life, and each year wit- 
 nessed extending operations, until, in 
 i860, its ledger showed one handred and 
 fifty-five establishments, in charge of 
 twenty-five chief factors, tiventy-eight 
 chief traders, one hundred and fifty-two 
 clerks, and one thousand two hundred 
 other servants, besides a legion of subject 
 natives. The trading districts were di- 
 vided into four departments, covering 
 the country from ocean to ocean, from 
 Ungava, on the bleak Labrador coast, to 
 Fort Victoria, on the fiord-pierced shores 
 of British Columbia — an empire hardly 
 smaller than the whole of Europe, though 
 but thinly populated by some one hun- 
 dred and sixty thousand Indians, half- 
 breeds, and Esquimaux. 
 
 Hardly was the Dominion of Canada 
 well born than its statesmen began to 
 look with longing eyes upon the bound- 
 less prairies of the North-West, and to 
 demand in no uncertain language from 
 the mother country the abrogation of the 
 charter giving the Hudson's Bay Com- 
 pany a monopoly of that promised land. 
 But, of course, the company could hardly 
 be expected to yield up so splendid a prop- 
 erty without adequate compensation. Ne- 
 gotiations were accordingly entered into, 
 which, in the year 1869, resulted in a bar- 
 gain being effected. The company sui- 
 rendered its proprietary rights, and in 
 return therefor received the tidy sum of 
 three hundred thousand pounds sterling, 
 and one-twentieth of the land within 
 the fertile belt, as well as fifty thousand 
 acres in immediate proximity to its 
 posts. 
 
 As a monopoly the Hudson's Bay Com- 
 pany then ceased to exist. As a commer- 
 cial corporation, trading upon just the 
 same basis as other corporations, and still 
 practically free from troublesome compe- 
 tition in the mere northern territories, 
 holding vast landed estates, ever increas- 
 ing in value as the country opens up, 
 ai'd able to pay a decent dividend, capi- 
 tal now swollen to two millions of pounds, 
 the " Honorable Company of Merchant 
 Adventurers Trading into Hudson's Bay " 
 
THE ROMANTIC STORY OF A GREAT CORPORATION. 409 
 
 has still, no doubt, in store for it a pro- 
 longed if uneventful future. 
 
 The headquarters of the company con- 
 tinue to be in Fenchurch Street, London, 
 but the recent election to the chief-govern- 
 orship of Sir Donald Smith, of Montreal, 
 whose life for the past half-century has 
 been part of the company's history, has 
 brought the control of affairs into closer 
 touch with the country, and made it seem 
 more than ever in the past a national 
 enterprise. 
 
 I have thus sketched in scanty outline 
 the romantic history of the great corpo- 
 ration, and it now remains for me to give 
 some picture of its internal workings, of 
 its method of dealing v. :th the Indians, 
 and of life at the hundred or more forts 
 scattered throughout so many thousand 
 miles of varied territory. 
 
 Regarded strictly as a fur-trading en- 
 terprise, the Hudson's Bay Company 
 reached its zenith about the year 1868, 
 just before the surrender of its proprie- 
 tary privileges to the Dominion of Can- 
 ada ; and as the methods and mannerti 
 in vogue then remain practically un- 
 changed to-day at the more distant forts, 
 whither settlement and civilization have 
 not yet made their way, I will ask my 
 readers to imagine themselves trans- 
 ported to a typical post of that period, 
 and interested spectators of its pictur- 
 esque, unconventional life. 
 
 If, on approaching a Hudson's Bay post 
 for the first time, you had the high- 
 SGunding word " fort," suggestive of ram- 
 part, bastion, embrasure, and battlement, 
 much upon your mind, and were accord- 
 ingly full of appro- 
 priate expectation, 
 you would be doomed 
 to disappointment. 
 Excepting Fort 
 Garry, which, before 
 the city of Winnipt„- 
 swallowed it up, was 
 really a fortress with 
 substantial stone 
 walls and towers, the 
 forts are quite un- 
 imposing affairs. 
 Fancy a parallelo- 
 gram of greater or 
 less extent, accord- 
 ing to the importance 
 of the post, inclosed 
 
 by a picket twenty-four feet in height, 
 composed of upright trunks, and fastened 
 along the top by a strong rail. At each 
 corner stands a stout bastion built of 
 squared logs, and pierced for guns com 
 manding both sides of the angle. Inside 
 the picket is a gallery running right 
 around the inclosure, just high enough 
 for a man's head to be level with the top 
 of the fence. At intervals along the side 
 of the picket are loopholes for rifles, and 
 over the gateway frowns another bastion, 
 from which anybody attempting to stonn 
 the gate may be warmly peppered. In 
 the center of the space inclosed are the 
 houses of the factor, or trader in charge, 
 and his chief subordinates, while ranged 
 around the sides, close to the stockade, 
 are the trading store, the fur-room, the 
 warehouses, servants' quarters, etc. Be- 
 side the factor's residence rises a lofty 
 flagstaff from which floats the. flag of the 
 company, beaming its motto : "Pro Pelle 
 Cutem," and near by stands a bell tower 
 which sounds out the important hours of 
 the daj'. 
 
 In the earlier days one oC the garrison 
 would, watch by watch, jace round the 
 gallery, crying out at intervals the hours 
 and the state of the weather ; partly as a 
 precaution against Indian invasion, rnd 
 partly as a fire patrol ; but the establish- 
 ment of the mounted police by the Do- 
 minion Government has rendered the 
 former duty unnecessary, and the prac- 
 tice is nov almost obsolete. 
 
 The advent of a band of Indians, bur- 
 dened with the result of a season's hunt- 
 ing, arouses the fort from its htnidrum 
 
 
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 LANDING AT FORT OAKRY. 
 
4IO 
 
 THE ROMANTIC STORY OF A GREAT CORPORATION. 
 
 routine, and it becomes a scene of pictur- 
 esque animation and bustle. If the band 
 be an important one, its coming has been 
 announced by a couple of braves sent on 
 ahead as advance agents, and everything 
 is in readiness. This means not only 
 that the companj''s goods are ready for 
 the barter, but that every precaution has 
 been taken to guard against a sudden 
 reconnaissance in force on the part of 
 the red men, whose feelings ^re apt 
 to be powerfully operated upon by the 
 knowledge that what seems to them 
 illimitable wealth is kept out of their 
 g asp by only some rough wooden walls, 
 and a handful of white men. The man- 
 ner in which the business of bartering 
 goods for peltries is then conducted has 
 been graphically described for us by a 
 writer familiar with the proceedings. The 
 Indian with his bundle of furs proceeds 
 in the first instance to the trading-room, 
 where the trader separates the furs into 
 lots, puts a valuation upon them accord- 
 ing to their kind and quality, and, after 
 adding up the amount, returns to the In- 
 dian a number of little pieces of wood in- 
 dicating the number of ' ' made-beavers ' ' 
 to which his ' ' hunt ' ' amounts. Bearing 
 his bundle of sticks, the happy hunter 
 then proceeds to the store-room, where 
 he finds himself surrounded by bales of 
 blankets, slop-coats, guns, scalping- 
 knives, tomahawks, powder-horns, axes, 
 etc., etc., and is thereby made to feel very 
 much like a hungry boy !et loose in a 
 pastry-cook's, and would without doubt 
 behave in a much similar fashion if he 
 dared. Each article has a recognized 
 value in " niade-beavei . ' ' A slop-coat, for 
 example, may be wortli five " made-beav- 
 ers," and the aborigine pays for hi; civil- 
 ized finery with twelve of his stic ; for 
 a gun he gives twenty ; for a knii^ two ; 
 and so on until his stock of wooden 
 " legal tender" is exhausted, when, with 
 profound regret and longing e3'es, he re- 
 tires to make room for the next comer, 
 and to proudly exhibit his purchases to 
 his friends and family. 
 
 At every post, or at least in every dis- 
 trict, there is a tariff established which 
 varies little from year to year. The 
 mind of the Indian, untutored to the rise 
 and fall of the markets, and knowing 
 nothing of what it means for furs to be 
 " firm" or " unsteady," is not tolerant of 
 
 varying prices; and according 'y, to facil- 
 itate matters, the company takes the risk 
 of changes, and unless the fall in price is 
 of long continuance, gives the same price 
 for fur as formerly when it was high, or 
 vice versa; thus on some peltries the com- 
 pany loses, but compensates itself by 
 making a large profit upon others. This 
 system has one advantage. The Indian 
 never attempts to raise * he price of furs or 
 beat down the price of the merchandise. 
 The tariff is unchangeable. If he is not 
 pleased with it he is at perfect liberty to 
 go to the next shop, and this, combined 
 with the fact that the company sells no- 
 thing which is not of the best quality of 
 i j kind, has given it advantage over all 
 competitors that it will be long in losing. 
 
 Before the establishment of the mount- 
 ed police the posts in the plain country, 
 at which the wily, unscrupulous Black- 
 feet and Crees were the principal custom- 
 ers, had to take many precautions when 
 a large band of redskins came to trade. 
 Guns were loaded and placed in the loop- 
 holes commanding the Indian and trade 
 rooms, and the gates of the stockade 
 securely fastened. All communication 
 between the Indians and trader was cut 
 off, and there remained for the customers 
 only the narrow passage leading from the 
 outer gate of the stockade to the Indian 
 room, the Indian room itself, and the 
 narrow hallway between it and the 
 trade- room. This latter was furnished 
 with two heavy doors, with a space be- 
 tween them which would hold from two 
 to four Indians. Only two Indians were 
 admitted at a time into the trade-room. 
 This was divided by a stout partition 
 reaching from floor to ceiling, in the cen- 
 ter of which an aperture about a yard 
 square was cut, and divided by a grating 
 into squares sufliciently large to admit 
 of the easy passage of goods, but not of 
 the red man in person. As a still further 
 precaution the passage leading to the 
 window was in some instances made 
 crooked, for the very good reason that ex- 
 perience had taught the trader that the 
 Indian was apt to bring heated bargain- 
 ing to a dramatic climax by shooting 
 him from behind. 
 
 There has been a wonderful change in 
 values since the good old daj'S in the 
 early part of this century. When Fort 
 Dunvegan was established on the Peace 
 
THE ROMANTIC STORY OF A GREAT CORPORATION. 
 
 411 
 
 River, near the Rockies, t^e regular price 
 of a trade musket was Rocky Mountain 
 sables piled up on each side until they 
 were level with its muzzle when held 
 upright. Now these sables were worth 
 in Kngland about three pounds apiece, 
 while the cost of the musket did not 
 exceed one pound. The price of a six- 
 shilling blanket was, in like manner, 
 thirteen beavers of the best quality, 
 beaver then being worth thirty-two shil- 
 lings a pound, and a good skin weighing 
 a pound or more. 
 
 But in the course of time the Indians 
 began to know better the relative value 
 of the muskets and their furs, and to ob- 
 ject most decidedly to the one being piled 
 along the ' qrrel of the oth }r, which re- 
 port sayeth was lengthen ef year by year 
 until it attained colossal dimensions, 
 
 Indians should confine their exertions 
 to the more valuable creatures, and there- 
 by kill the goose of the golden eggs. 
 Furthermore, the company has always 
 exercised a sort of paternal care over 
 the people that might, in some sense, be 
 regarded as its wards. I<iberal advances 
 are n^ ver refused to trusty trappers in 
 case of need, and to the credit of the red 
 men be it recorded that rarely are these 
 obligations evaded, the company's ex- 
 perience being that in this respect the 
 redskin can set an example well worthy 
 of imitation by his pale-faced brother. 
 And finally, when the Indian grows too 
 old to trap and hunt as of yore, he is 
 allowed to become a pensioner upon the 
 company's bounty, and there is hardly a 
 fort that has not a number of such 
 hangers-on. The best possible reply 
 
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 ' ' . '' 
 
 
 
 FORT EDMONTON, ALBERTA. 
 
 so that the trade gradually became to be 
 less jug-handled. 
 
 The company has shown no le.ss far- 
 sightedness than humanity in its deal- 
 ings with the ignorant Indians, to so 
 large an extent in its power. Its lauda- 
 ble position with regard to the use of 
 spirits in trade has been already men- 
 tioned, and although, during the disas- 
 trous rivalry with the Nor-VVesters, the 
 Hud.son's Ba3' did, for a time, fall away 
 from grace, and fight fire-water with fire- 
 water, so soon as the struggle ended in 
 coalition prohibition once more prevailed. 
 Then every care has been taken to pre- 
 vent the extermination of the fur-bearing 
 animals, and whole districts have been 
 " laid over " from hunting for years at a 
 time. Another sagacious principle was 
 to pay a proportionately higher price for 
 inferior furs, such as musk-rats, lest the 
 
 that can be given to those who have 
 made it their business to abuse the com- 
 pany for alleged ill-treatment of the 
 Indians, is to be found in the fact that 
 to this day the company is looked upon 
 with the utmost affection and veneration 
 by them. The writer already quoted re- 
 lates that often, when he complained that 
 the Indians charged him for any serv- 
 ices rendered much more than they 
 would have charged the company, he was 
 met with the conclusive answer, " Yes, I 
 know we do; but if you took care of us 
 in our old age, and treated us as well as 
 they have treated us, then we would do 
 this for you at the same price." 
 
 Lieutenant Gordon, who was in com- 
 mand of the three expeditions dispatched 
 by the Marine Department of Canada 
 into Hudson's Bay for the purpose of de- 
 termining the possibilities of that inland 
 
 li^biio 
 
1 
 
 A OOG TRAIN. 
 
 412 THE ROMANTIC STORY OF A GREAT CORPORATION. 
 
 cials in Canada 
 is made up as 
 follows. There 
 are two com- 
 missioners, 
 one iu charge 
 of the land 
 sales and one 
 ofthe fur trade, 
 and known as 
 the land and 
 trade commis- 
 sioners respec- 
 tively. Then 
 comes the in- 
 specting chief 
 factor, having 
 three shares in 
 the stock of the 
 company to his credit, as a reward for 
 long ' nd faithful service ; then the chief 
 traders, ruling over districts or depart- 
 ments, and holding two and a half shares ; 
 next the factors, who are in charge of 
 important posts, and have two shares ; 
 below them the chief traders, with one 
 and a half shares; and below them again 
 the junior chief traders, who, having put 
 in at least fourteen years of satisfy itory 
 ser^'ice, are promoted- from the rank of 
 clerks, and given an interest in the com- 
 pany to the extent of a single share. 
 The apprenticed clerks, the largest body 
 of all, bring up the rear. They are sturdy 
 young men, ranging in age from fifteen 
 to thirty, and upon them falls the hardest 
 and most important work. Next below 
 the apprenticed clerks comes the post- 
 master, usually a promoted laborer, who, 
 for good behavior or valuable service, has 
 been put on a footing with the gentle- 
 men of the service, in the same manner 
 that a private soldier in the army is 
 sometimes raised to the rank of commis- 
 sioned officer. Still lower are the inter- 
 preters, who, for the most part, are intelli- 
 gent laborers of long standing, that have 
 taken the trouble to familiarize them- 
 selves with the various Indian dialects, 
 and thereby become indispensable in con- 
 ducting negotiations with the natives. 
 Finally, at the bottom of all are the 
 voyageurs, hunters, and laborers, whose 
 duties are as multifarious as they are la- 
 borious, cutting fire-wood and shoveling 
 snow in winter, rowing, paddling, and 
 portagi g boats and canoes with their 
 
 ocean as a highway of commerce, was 
 much struck by the fact that the ofiicials 
 at all the posts he visited with singular 
 unanimity told the same story, viz. ; that 
 there was no profit being made upon their 
 transactions, but that the posts were 
 maintained simply for the benefit of the 
 Indians and Esquimaux. The shrewd 
 sailor did not feel bound to accept the 
 statement unreservedly, but no doubt it 
 had enough truth to ballast it, for the 
 profits of fur-trading have wofuUy fallen 
 off within the past quarter of a century, 
 and there is little hope of their ever re- 
 gaining their former figures. 
 
 But, so far, I have said little or nothing 
 about the ofiicials, and they certainly de- 
 serve a good part of an article to them- 
 selves. As already indicated , the maj ority 
 of those at the posts have, from the first, 
 bf'en Scotchmen, although of recent years 
 many from England and Canada have 
 entered into the service of the company. 
 
 The grades of rank are very distinctly 
 marked, and an effective, if not martial, 
 discipline is still maintained. The vari- 
 ous officials of the company are classed 
 as follows, beginning at the top and 
 working downward : Highest of all are 
 the governor, deputy -govern or, and board 
 of directors, who reside in London, and 
 form the court of last resort as regards 
 the direction of their affairs. As men- 
 tioned in the first part of this article, the 
 goverrior is, for the first time in the 
 history of the company, a Canadian, Sir 
 Donald Smith, of Montreal, now filling 
 that honorable office. The staff of ofii- 
 
i 
 
 THE ROMANTIC STORY OF A GREAT CORPORATION. 413 
 
 
 heavy cargoes in summer, and otherwise 
 making themselves generally useful. 
 
 Lifeat a Hudson's Bay post nowadays is 
 at best a rather dull and humdrum affair. 
 The Indians are entirely under control, 
 and no more a source of danger than the 
 negroes in the South ; and time is apt to 
 hang heavily upon the hands of the gar- 
 rison, which may consist of from two 
 to half a hundred men — according to 
 whether the post is a central depot of 
 supplies, a permanent fort, or merely an 
 isolated stockade for the accumulation 
 of provisions and peltries for the use of 
 larger forts. But whatever may be the 
 character of the establishment, a certain 
 amount of discipline is carefully main- 
 tained, and an observer could hardly fail 
 to be struck with the prompt obedience 
 shown to some mere stripling of a clerk 
 by the grizzled, weather-beaten voyageurs 
 and laborers under his control. 
 
 The day begins with breakfast, which 
 is usually at six o'clock in winter, and 
 an hour earlier in summer, although the 
 higher officials may prolong their morn- 
 ing nap a little, if they feel inclined. 
 There is an officers' mess .and a servants' 
 mess, the latter drawing rations at regu- 
 lar intervals, and having them cooked by 
 one of their number set apart for the 
 purpose. The o0icers by no means re- 
 gard lightly the pleasures of the table, 
 and great care is taken to keep the larder 
 well stocked. Their fare is, of course, 
 confined largely to such wild game and 
 fish as the country round about affords, 
 but the supply is abundant, and the 
 variety extensive. Buffalo hump — now, 
 alas, little more than a tender, juicy 
 memory — moose-muffle — tremulous and 
 opaque as a vege- 
 table conserve — 
 beaver tail, unctu- 
 ous and satisfying, 
 venison haunch 
 and savory duck, 
 crimson salmon 
 and snowy white- 
 fish — one does not 
 soon tire of such 
 viands as these, es- 
 pecially when they 
 are prepared by 
 French cooks. The 
 hours of business 
 at the forts dur- 
 
 ing the summei reason are from nine to 
 six, with a break at noonday for umner; 
 and if the post be an important one, there 
 is plenty of animation and bustle, but no 
 undue haste, a careful attention to details 
 being never forgotten. The Indians, in 
 bands upon horseback, or singly upon 
 foot, present themselves with furs to 
 trade. The voyageurs are hard at work 
 loading with bales of costly furs the boats 
 lying in the river, or unloading them of 
 the goods they have brought. Brigades of 
 boats destined for more distant points 
 pause for a few days or hours to exchange 
 the news, and take a little breathing- 
 spell ; while now and then the arrival of 
 the district inspector, or some other im- 
 portant official, with his train of servants, 
 creates a sensation that only subsides 
 with his departure for another station. 
 
 All summer long a Hudson's Bay offi- 
 cer's lot is rather a happy one, which 
 many a cribbed, cabined, and confined city 
 dweller might envy ; for in the intervals of 
 work there are hunting, fishing, boating, 
 swimming, and other athletic pursuits 
 to be enjoyed in the finest climate in the 
 world. It is when the long winter comes, 
 and the whole world around is buried be- 
 neath a fall of snow from three to thirty 
 feet deep, that the utmost ingenuity is 
 needed to drive dull ennui away. The cold 
 is intense yet not unbearable, owing to the 
 drj^ness of the atmosphere. Not a step 
 can be taken except on snow-shoes. A 
 silence as of death has fallen upon nature ; 
 not a bird sings in the leafless trees, not 
 a creature stirs within the range of vision ; 
 ' ' the waters are hid as with a stone, and 
 the face of the deep is frozen ;" and the 
 warm, cozy mess-room of the fort possesses 
 
 WARBHOUSB OF HUDSON'S BAY TRADING COMPANY. 
 
i 
 
 414 
 
 T//E ROMANTIC STORY OF A GREAT CORPORATION. 
 
 attractions not so evident in the glorious 
 days of midsummer. Then are the men 
 thrown upon their own resources for en- 
 tertainment, and whether the hours pass 
 brightly or heavily will depend upon 
 themselves. There is very little work to 
 be done. The furs have to be sorted, 
 looked to frequently, and packed in readi- 
 ness for the coming of spring; and visits 
 may be exchanged with the nearest fort. 
 Those who like to dabble in ink have now 
 a fine opportunity to write up their dia- 
 ries ; and others, with a taste for natural 
 history, can amuse themselves in mount- 
 ing and preserving specimens; while the 
 studiously inclined can follow their fa- 
 vorite lines of study. 
 
 The northern mail starts out from 
 Winnipeg earh'in December. It consists 
 of two or more toboggans drawn by dogs, 
 and laden with strong wooden boxes in 
 which is placed an astonishing amount 
 of mail matter. Proceeding as far as 
 possible along the frozen bosoms of the 
 lakes and rivers, the train pushes north- 
 ward at the rate of forty miles a day, the 
 drivers on snow-shoes easily keeping 
 pace with the well-broken dogs, of which 
 four are harnessed to each toboggan, 
 until Fort Carlton, in the Saskatchewan 
 valley, is reached. Here the entire mail 
 is overhauled and repacked, branch pack- 
 ets being sent off east and west, w-liile 
 the main packet continues ever north- 
 ward over the snow- billowed plains, 
 across the deep-drifted vallejs, through 
 thesighing, shadowy forests, diminishing 
 steadily in bulk as fort after fort is visited, 
 until at last, reduced to a mere handful, 
 that a man might put in his pocket, it 
 reaches the end of its journey at Fort 
 Yukon, upon the far frontier of Alaska. 
 
 When the young clerk first went out to 
 Rupert's Land, a wife, as a compagnon de 
 voyage, was not to be considered; and 
 then, when the time came that he might 
 indulge in matrimony, he was far away 
 from the women of his own race, few, 
 
 indeed, of whom would be willing to 
 stal-e their future upon the uncertainty 
 of finding such domestic happiness in 
 the wilds of North America as would 
 compensate them for the loss of all the 
 delights of civilization. The natural 
 consequence was that, looking about him 
 for a companion, he found his choice lim- 
 ited to the dusky belles of the Indians. 
 Sons and daughters were born, and grew 
 up, to win the love that was rarely be- 
 stowed upon the patient, faithful drudge 
 of a mother. The natural affection of 
 the father proved stronger than the 
 artificial laws of society, and the connec- 
 tion thus strongly cemented continued 
 unbroken to the end. The company 
 made a point of encouraging this mating 
 of the Indian races with their officers 
 and men. It insured the good-will of the 
 one, and bound the other to the country 
 by ties not readily broken. So the chil- 
 dren came in quiversful to the Macs and 
 Pierres, and the blood of redskin warriors 
 mingling with that of " Hieland lairds " 
 and French bourgeois went flowing forth 
 in a steady stream all through the mightj- 
 possessions of the company. 
 
 It seems as though I had but scratched 
 the surface of the story of this great cor- 
 poration, which for more than two cent- 
 uries has wielded so profound an influ- 
 ence throughout the northern half of 
 this continent. It may endure for nnany 
 decades or even for centuries yet, but its 
 career cannot be less prosaic than that 
 of the Canadian Pacific Railroad. The 
 returns from sales of land already far 
 overshadow the profits from the fur trade, 
 and the latter must inevitably in time 
 shrink into insignificance. However 
 that ma3' be, the ' ' Honorable Company of 
 Merchant Adventurers of England trad- 
 ing into Hudson's Bay," looking back 
 upon its records, ma}', with substantial 
 reason, congratulate itself upon having 
 contributed one of the most interesting 
 chapters to the romance of commerce. 
 
 (* 
 
 FORT ELLICE, MANITOBA. 
 
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