Hudson's Bay Company storesHUDSON'S BAY COMPANY'S STORES AND GENERAL OFFICES, WINNIPEG.
HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY'S STORES AND GENERAL OFFICES, WINNIPEG.
The trade thus modified has been under the direction of men of ability, who succeeded Mr. Donald A. Smith, such as Messrs. Wrigley, Brydges, and a number of able subordinates. The extension of trade has gone on in many of the rising towns of the Canadian West, where the Hudson's Bay Company was not before represented, such as Portage La Prairie, Calgary, Lethbridge, Prince Albert, Vancouver, &c. In all these points the Company's influence has been a very real and important one.
The methods of trade, now employed, require a skill and knowledge never needed in the old fur-trading days. The present successful Commissioner, C. C. Chipman, Esq., resident in Winnipeg, controls and directs interests far greater than Sir George Simpson was called upon to deal with. Present and Past presents a contrast between ceaseless competition and a sleepy monopoly.
COMMISSIONER CHIPMAN (WINNIPEG).Executive Officer of H.B. Co. in Canada.
COMMISSIONER CHIPMAN (WINNIPEG).Executive Officer of H.B. Co. in Canada.
The portions of the country not reached, or likely to be reached by settlement, have remained in possession of the Hudson's Bay Company almost solely. The Canadian Government has negotiated treaties with the Indians as far north as Lake Athabasca, leaving many of the Chipewyans and Eskimos still to the entire management of the Company.
The impression among the officers of the Company is that under the deed poll of 1871 they are not so well remunerated as under the former régime. It is difficult to estimate the exact relation of the present to the past, inasmuch as the opening up of the country, the improvement of transportation facilities, and the cheapening of all agricultural supplies has changed the relative value of money in the country. Under this arrangement, which has been in force for twenty-four years, the profits of the wintering partners are divided on the basis of one-hundredth of a share. Of this an inspecting chief factor receives three shares; a chief factor two and a half; a factor two; and a chief trader one and a half shares. The average for the twenty-five years of the one-hundredth share has been 213l.12s.2-1/2dSince 1890 a more liberal provision has been made for officers retiring, and since that time an officer on withdrawing in good standing receives two years' full pay and six years' half pay. Later years have seen a further increase.
A visit to the Hudson's Bay House on the corner of Leadenhall and Lime Streets, London, still gives one a sense of the presence of the old Company. While in the New World great changes have taken place, and the visitor is struck with the complete departure from the low-ceiling store, with goods in disorder and confusion, with Metis smoking "kinni-kinnik" till the atmosphere is opaque—all this to the palatial buildings with the most perfect arrangements and greatest taste; yet in London "the old order changeth" but slowly. It is true the old building on Fenchurch Street, London, where "the old Lady" was said by the Nor'-Westers to sit, was sold in 1859, and the proceeds divided among the shareholders and officers for four years thereafter. But the portraits of Prince Rupert, Sir George Simpson, and the copy of the Company Charter were transferred bodily to the directors' room in the building on Lime Street. The strong room contains the same rows of minutes, the same dusty piles of documents, and the journals of bygone years, but the business of a vast region is still managed there, and the old gentlemen who control the Hudson's Bay Company affairs pass their dividends as comfortably as in years gone by, with, in an occasional year, some restless spirit stirring up the echoes, to be promptly repressed and the current of events to go on as before.
Since 1871, however, it is easy to see that men of greater financial ability have been at the head of the councils of the Hudson's Bay Company, recalling the palmy days of the first operations of the Company. After five years' service, Sir Edmund Head, the first Governor under the new deed poll, gave way, to be followed for a year by the distinguished politician and statesman, the Earl of Kimberley. For five years thereafter, Sir Stafford Northcote, who held high Government office in the service of the Empire, occupied this position. He was followed for six years by one who has since gained a very high reputation for financial ability, the Rt. Hon. G. J. Goschen. Eden Colville, who seems to carry us back to the former generation—a man of brisk and alert mind, and singularly free from the prejudices and immobility of Governor Berens, the last of the barons of the old régime—held office for three years after Mr. Goschen.
For the last ten years the veteran of kindly manner, warm heart, and genial disposition, Lord Strathcona and Mount Royal, has occupied this high place. The clerk, junior officer, and chief factor of thirty hard years on the inhospitable shores of Hudson Bay and Labrador, the Commissioner who, as Donald A. Smith, soothed the Riel rebellion, and for years directed the reorganization of the Company's affairs at Fort Garry and the whole North-West, the daring speculator who took hold, with his friends, of the Minnesota and Manitoba Railway, and with Midas touch turned the enterprise to gold, a projector and a builder of the Canadian Pacific Railway, the patron of art and education, has worthily filled the office of Governor of the Hudson's Bay Company, and with much success reorganized its administration and directed its affairs.
The Company's operations are vaster than ever before. The greatest mercantile enterprise of the Greater Canada west of Lake Superior; a strong land Company, still keeping up its traditions and conducting a large trade in furs; owning vessels and transportation facilities; able to take large contracts; exercising a fatherly care over the Indian tribes; the helper and assistant of the vast missionary organizations scattered over Northern Canada, the Company since the transfer of Rupert's Land to Canada has taken a new lease of life; its eye is not dim, nor its natural force abated.
THE FUTURE OF THE CANADIAN WEST.
The Greater Canada—Wide wheat fields—Vast pasture lands—Huronian mines—The Kootenay riches—Yukon nuggets—Forests—Iron and coal—Fisheries—Two great cities—Towns and villages—Anglo-Saxon institutions—The great outlook.
In1871, soon after Rupert's Land and the Indian territories were transferred to Canada, it was the fortune of the writer to take up his abode in Winnipeg, as the village in the neighbourhood of Fort Garry was already called. The railway was in that year still four hundred miles from Winnipeg. From the terminus in Minnesota the stage coach drawn by four horses, with relays every twenty miles, sped rapidly over prairies smooth as a lawn to the site of the future City of the Plains.
The fort was in its glory. Its stone walls, round bastions, threatening pieces of artillery and rows of portholes, spoke of a place of some strength, though even then a portion of stone wall had been taken down to give easier access to the "Hudson's Bay Store." It was still the seat of government, for the Canadian Governor lived within its walls, as the last Company Governor, McTavish, had done. It was still the scene of gaiety, as the better class of the old settlers united with the leaders of the new Canadian society in social joys, under the hospitable roof of Governor Archibald.
Since that time forty years have well-nigh passed. The stage coach, the Red River cart, and the shagganappe pony are things of the past, and great railways with richly furnished trains connect St. Paul and Minnesota with the City of Winnipeg. More important still, the skill of the engineer has blasted a way through the Archæan rocks to Fort William, Lake Superior, more direct than the old fur-traders' route; the tremendous cliffs of the north shore of Lake Superior have been levelled and the chasm bridged. To the west the prairies have been gridironed with numerous lines of railway, the enormous ascents of the four Rocky Mountain ranges rising a mile above the sea level have been crossed, and the giddy heights of the Fraser River cañon traversed. The iron band of the Canadian Pacific Railway, one of whose chief promoters was Lord Strathcona and Mount Royal, the present Governor of the Company, has joined ocean to ocean. The Canadian Northern Railway runs its line from Lake Superior through Winnipeg and Edmonton to British Columbia. It has in prospect a transcontinental Railway from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. The Grand Trunk Pacific Railway has in operation a perfectly built line from Lake Superior through Winnipeg and Edmonton to the Rocky Mountains, and with the backing of the Canadian Government guarantees a most complete connection between the eastern and western shores of the continent.
A wonderful transformation has taken place in the land since the days of Sir George Simpson and his band of active chief factors and traders. It is true, portions of the wide territory reaching from Labrador to the Pacific Ocean will always be the domain of the fur-trader. The Labrador, Ungava, and Arctic shores of Canada will always remain inhospitable, but the Archæan region on the south and west of Hudson Bay undoubtedly contains great mineral treasures. The Canadian Government pledges itself to a completed railway from the prairie wheat fields to York Factory on Hudson Bay. This will bring the seaport on Hudson Bay as near Britain as is New York, and will make an enormous saving in transportation to Western Canada. What a mighty change from the day when the pessimistic French King spoke of all Canada, as "only a few orpents of snow." Mackenzie River district is still the famous scene of the fur trade, and may long continue so, though there is always the possibility of any portion of the vast waste of the Far North developing, as the Yukon territory has done, mineral wealth rivalling the famous sands of Pactolus or the riches of King Solomon's mines.
Under Canadian sway, law and order are preserved throughout this wide domain, although the Hudson's Bay Company officers still administer law and in many cases are magistrates or officers for the Government, receiving their commissions from Ottawa. Peace and order prevail; the arm of the law has been felt in Keewatin, the Mackenzie River, and distant Yukon.
But it is to the fertile prairies of the West and valleys and slopes of the Pacific Coast we look for the extension of the Greater Canada. While the Hon. William McDougall was arguing the value of the prairie land of the West, his Canadian and other opponents maintained "that in the North-West the soil never thawed out in summer, and that the potato or cabbage would not mature." With this opinion many of the Hudson's Bay Company officers agreed, though it is puzzling to the resident of the prairie to-day to see how such honourable and observing men could have made such statements. The fertile plains have been divided into three great provinces, Manitoba (1871), Saskatchewan and Alberta (1905). Manitoba, which at the time of the closing of the Hudson's Bay Company régime numbered some 12,000 or 15,000 whites and half-breeds and as many more Indians, has (in 1909) a population of well-nigh half a million—the city of Winnipeg itself exceeding more than one quarter of that number. Saskatchewan and Alberta probably make up between them another half million of people in this prairie section. These being the three great bread-providing provinces of the Dominion, produced in 1909 on 297,000,000 of acres, which is but 8 per cent. of their total arable land, of wheat, oats, barley and flax, 132-1/3 million dollars' worth of cereals.
The City of Winnipeg, which, when the writer first saw the hamlet bearing that name, had less than three hundred souls, has now become a beautiful city, which drew forth the admiration of the whole British Association on the occasion of their visit to it in 1909. Its assessment in 1910 was 157-3/5 millions of dollars, and the amount of building in that year reached 11,000,000 dollars. The city has under construction at Winnipeg River, fifty miles from the city, 60,000 horsepower of electric energy, which will be transmitted by cable to the city in 1911 for manufacturing purposes. Up till 1882 the Hudson's Bay Company store was a low building, a wooden erection made of lumber sawn by whip-saw or by some rude contrivance, having what was known in the old Red River days as a "pavilion roof." Its highly-coloured fabrics suited to the trade of the country did not relieve its dingy interior. To-day the Hudson's Bay Company departmental stores and offices, built of dark red St. Louis brick, speak of the enormous progress made in the development of the country. The Hudson's Bay Company store, great as it now is, has been equalled and even perhaps surpassed by private enterprises of great magnitude. Winnipeg, as being from its geographical position half way between the international boundary line and Lake Winnipeg, is the natural gateway between Eastern and Western Canada. It is becoming the greatest railway centre of Canada, and is familiarly spoken of as the "Chicago of Western Canada." It bids fair also to be a great manufacturing centre. In spite of its recent date and unfinished facilities for power its manufactured output has grown from 8-2/3 millions of dollars in 1900 to 25,000,000 in 1910. From 1902, when its bank clearings were 188-1/3 millions of dollars, these grew in 1909 to 770-2/3 millions. All this is not surprising when the marvellous immigration and consequent development is shown by the railway mileage of Western Canada, which has grown from 3,680 miles in 1900 to 11,472 miles in 1909; and when the annual product, chiefly of cattle and horses, reached in the latter year the sum of 175,000,000 of dollars.
British Columbia, including the New Caledonia, Kootenay Country, and Vancouver Island of the fur-traders, is a land of great resources. Its population has increased many times over. Its great salmon fisheries, trade in timber, coal mines, agricultural productiveness, and genial climate have long made it a favourite dwelling-place for English-speaking colonists.
Parliament Buildings, VictoriaPARLIAMENT BUILDINGS, VICTORIA, B.C.With statue of Capt. George Vancouver above; figures of Sir James Douglas and Chief Justice Begbie in niches; and the obelisk of Sir James Douglas, erected by the people of British Columbia.
PARLIAMENT BUILDINGS, VICTORIA, B.C.With statue of Capt. George Vancouver above; figures of Sir James Douglas and Chief Justice Begbie in niches; and the obelisk of Sir James Douglas, erected by the people of British Columbia.
In late years much prominence has been given to this province by the discovery of its mineral products. Gold, silver, and lead mines in the Kootenay region, which was discovered by old David Thompson, and in the Cariboo district, have lately attracted many immigrants to British Columbia; the adjoining territory of the Yukon, brought to the knowledge of the world by Chief Factor Robert Campbell, has surpassed all other parts of the fur-traders' land in rich productiveness, although the region lying between the Lake of the Woods and Lake Superior, along the very route of the fur-traders, is becoming famous by its production of gold, silver, and other valuable metals.
Throughout the wide West great deposits of coal and iron are found, the basis of future manufactures, and in many districts great forests to supply to the world material for increasing development.
What, then, is to be the future of this Canadian West? The possibilities are illimitable. The Anglo-Saxon race, with its energy and pluck, has laid hold of the land so long shut in by the wall built round it by the fur-traders. This race, with its dominating forcefulness, will absorb and harmonize elements coming from all parts of the world to enjoy the fertile fields and mineral treasures of a land whose laws are just, whose educational policy is thorough and progressive, whose moral and religious aspirations are high and noble, and which gives a hearty welcome to the industrious and deserving from all lands.
The flow of population to the Canadian West during the first decade of this century has been remarkable. Not only has there been a vast British immigration of the best kind, but some 150,000 to 200,000 of industrious settlers from the continent of Europe have come to build the railways, canals, and public works of the country, and they have been essential for its agricultural development. Several hundreds of thousands of the best settlers have come from the United States, a large proportion of them being returned Canadians or the children of Canadians.
On the shores of Burrard Inlet on the Pacific Ocean another place of great importance is rising—Vancouver City, the terminus of the Canadian Pacific Railway. Victoria, begun, as we have seen, by Chief Factor Douglas as the chief fort along the Pacific Coast, long held its own as the commercial as well as the political capital of British Columbia, but in the meantime Vancouver has surpassed it in population, if not in influence.
All goes to show that the Hudson's Bay Company was preserving for the generations to come a most valuable heritage. The leaders of opinion in Canada have frequently, within the last five years of the century, expressed their opinion that the second generation of the twentieth century may see a larger Canadian population to the West of Lake Superior than will be found in the provinces of the East. William Cullen Bryant's lines, spoken of other prairies, will surely come true of the wide Canadian plains:—
"I listen long.... and think I hearThe sound of that advancing multitudeWhich soon shall fill these deserts. From the groundComes up the laugh of children, the soft voiceOf maidens, and the sweet and solemn hymnOf Sabbath worshippers. The low of herdsBlends with the rustling of the heavy grainOver the dark brown furrows."
"I listen long.... and think I hearThe sound of that advancing multitudeWhich soon shall fill these deserts. From the groundComes up the laugh of children, the soft voiceOf maidens, and the sweet and solemn hymnOf Sabbath worshippers. The low of herdsBlends with the rustling of the heavy grainOver the dark brown furrows."
"I listen long
.... and think I hear
The sound of that advancing multitude
Which soon shall fill these deserts. From the ground
Comes up the laugh of children, the soft voice
Of maidens, and the sweet and solemn hymn
Of Sabbath worshippers. The low of herds
Blends with the rustling of the heavy grain
Over the dark brown furrows."
The French explorers are a reminiscence of a century and a half ago; the lords of the lakes and forests, with all their wild energy, are gone for ever; the Astorians are no more; no longer do the French Canadian voyageurs make the rivers vocal with their chansons; the pomp and circumstance of the emperor of the fur-traders has been resolved into the ordinary forms of commercial life; and the rude barter of the early trader has passed into the fulfilment of the poet's dream, of the "argosies of magic sails," and the "costly bales" of an increasing commerce. The Hudson's Bay Company still lives and takes its new place as one of the potent forces of the Canadian West.
AUTHORITIES AND REFERENCES.
(Chapters I.-VI.)
Voyages among the North American Indians, 1652-84 (Prince Society).
Histoire de l'Amérique Septentrionale, 1772, by M. Bacqueville de la Potherie.
M. Jeremie.
The British Empire in America, 2 vols. London, 1708. Anon. (John Oldmixon.)
Minutes and Stock Book of Hudson's Bay Company, Hudson's Bay Company House, Lime Street, London.
Imperial (Hudson's Bay Company) Blue Book, 1749.
Memo. of Chief Justice Draper. Imperial Blue Book, 1857.
Imperial Hudson's Bay Company Blue Book, 1857. Appendix 9.
Stock Book of Hudson's Bay Company Offices, Lime Street, London.
Documents, &c., on Boundaries. (Ottawa, 1871.) Hudson's Bay Company Statement of Rights, 1850.
Documents, &c., on Boundaries. (Ottawa, 1871.)
Documents of Early French Settlements.
The materials for Chapters III. and IV. are almost exclusively obtained from the unpublished minutes of the Company, 1671-1690, at Hudson's Bay Company House, Lime Street, London.
The material of Chapter V. is largely from the minutes and letter-books of the Company at the Hudson's Bay Company's House, Lime Street, London. The complete story of Radisson's life is now for the first time given to the world by the Author.
Instructions to Sieur de Troyes. Documents, &c. Ottawa, 1871.
N.Y. Hist. Collection. Vol. IX., p. 67.
Massachusetts Archives, Boston. French Documents.
Hist, de la Nouvelle France, par Marc L'Escarbot (1618).
Minutes of Hudson's Bay Company, Lime Street, London.
Bacqueville de la Potherie. Histoire de l'Amérique Septentrionale.
Histoire du Canada, par F. X. Garneau.
Letter-books of Hudson's Bay Company, Lime Street, London.
(Chapters VII.-X.)
Extracts from Treaty of Ryswick in Documents on Boundary. Ottawa, 1873.
Minutes and Letter-book of Hudson's Bay Company. (London.)
Extracts from Treaty of Utrecht, in Documents, &c., on Boundary. (Ottawa.) 1873.
Letter-books of Hudson's Bay Company. (London.)
Account of the Countries adjoining Hudson Bay, by Arthur Dobbs, Esq. London, 1744.
Discovery of the N.-W. Passage. (Several authors. Ottawa Parliamentary Library.)
Middleton. Reply to Arthur Dobbs, 1744.
John Barrow—Voyages.
A Voyage to Hudson Bay by the Dobbs galley and California, by Henry Ellis, Gentleman. London, 1748.
Six Years' Residence in Hudson Bay, by Joseph Robson, late Surveyor, &c. London, 1759.
Imperial Blue Book of Imperial Parliament relating to Hudson's Bay Company. 1749.
N. Y. Hist. Coll., Vol. IX. pp. 205, 209.
Archives de Paris, 2nd series, vol. IV. p. 263.
Canadian Archives. Ottawa.
Manuscripts Canadian Parl. Lib. (Ottawa. Third series, vol. 6.)
Pierre Margry in Paris, Moniteur of 1852.
Journal of Verendrye (original), 1738, Canadian Archives. (Ottawa.)
De Bougainville's Memoir, given in Pierre Margry's Relations, &c. (Paris.) 1867.
"Memoirs and Documents, &c." from Library, Paris. Five Volumes by Pierre Margry.
(Chapters XI.-XIII.)
Canadiens de l'Ouest. Joseph Tassé, 2 vols. (Montreal.) 1878.
Papers of Governor Haldimand. Canadian Archives. (Ottawa.)
Astoria. Washington Irving.
Sketches of N.W. of America. Bishop Taché. (Montreal.) 1870.
Travels and Adventures, &c., between 1760-1766. Alex. Henry, Senr., 1809.
Alexander Mackenzie's Voyages. London, 1801.
Memorial of North-West Traders. Canadian Archives. (Ottawa.) (Original.)
Les Bourgeois du Nord-Ouest, par L. R. Masson. 2 vols., Quebec, 1889-90.
A Journey from Prince of Wales Fort, in Hudson Bay, to the Northern Ocean, by Samuel Hearne. 4to. London: Strahan and Cadell, 1795.
Voyage de la Perouse autour du Monde. 4 vols. 8vo. Paris, 1798.
The Present State of Hudson Bay, by Edward Umfreville. Charles Stalker. London, 1796.
Observations on Hudson Bay, by Andrew Graham, Factor. Presented to James Fitzgerald. (Manuscript, 1771.) Hudson's Bay Company House, London.
(Chapters XIV.-XXII.)
Voyages of Alexander Mackenzie. (History of Fur Trade.) London, 1801. 8vo.
Haldimand Papers. Archives Dept. Ottawa. (Unpublished.)
Umfreville. (Supra.)
Masson's Bourgeois du Nord-Ouest. (Supra.)
Journal of Alexander Henry. Manuscript. (Ottawa Library.)
Journals of Alexander Henry and of David Thompson, by Elliott Coues. 3 vols. F. P. Harper. New York, 1897.
The Columbia River, by Ross Cox. 2 vols. London: H. Colbren and N. Bentley, 1832.
Simon Fraser's Journal, 1808. Masson. (Supra.)
Voyage, 1811-14, by Gabriel Franchère. (Translation, New York, 1854.)
Roderick McKenzie's Reminiscences. Masson. (Supra.)
James McKenzie. George Keith. John McDonald of Garth. Masson. (Supra.)
Journal, 1820, by Daniel Harmon. Andover.
Letters of John Pritchard. Edited by Writer, published in Winnipeg.
Charles McKenzie's Journeys. Masson. (Supra.)
Malhiot's Journeys. Masson. (Supra.)
Trader John Johnston, of Sault Ste. Marie. Masson. (Supra.)
Duncan Cameron and Peter Grant. (Masson.)
Astoria, by Washington Irving.
Ross Cox. (Supra.)
The Columbia River, by Alex. Ross, 1849.
Journal of Gabriel Franchère. (Supra.)
(Chapters XXIII.-XXVIII.)
(Selkirk Literature.)
Highland Emigration, by Lord Selkirk (1805).
Highland Clearances. Pamphlets, Advocates' Library, Edinburgh.
Red River Settlement, by Alex. Ross. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
Narrative of Destruction, &c. Archibald Macdonald, London, 1816.
Narrative of Occurrences in N.A. Anon., London, 1817.
Lord Selkirk's Settlement in N.A. Anon., London, 1817.
Blue-book on Red River Settlement of Imperial House of Commons, 1819.
Report of Canadian Trials, &c. A. Amos, London, 1820.
Do. Do. Anon., Montreal.
Memorial to Duke of Richmond. Earl of Selkirk, Montreal.
Canadiens de l'Ouest, by Joseph Tassé.
Diary of John McLeod, in Prov. Library, Winnipeg. (Unpublished.)
Manitoba, by the Writer. London, 1882.
(Chapters XXIX.-XXXI.)
Minutes of Council Meetings in Norway House, in Hudson's Bay House, London, and in Toronto. (Unpublished.)
Journey Round the World, by Governor Simpson, 1847.
"Peace River," by Archibald Macdonald. Annotated by Malcolm McLeod, Ottawa.
Peter Fidler's Will. Copy in possession of Writer.
Hudson's Bay Company Land Tenures, by Mr. Justice Martin, Victoria, B.C.
Journal of John McLeod. Parl. Library, Winnipeg. (Supra.)
Wentzel's Journal. F. Masson. (Supra.)
Journal of John Finlay. Manuscript, unpublished, property of Chief Factor MacDougall, Prince Albert, N.-W.T.
Collection of 100 letters from many fur traders to Chief Factor James Hargrave. Curwen, Edinburgh. (Unpublished.)
The Shoe and Canoe. London, 1850. Dr. J. Bigsby.
Gabriel Franchère. (Supra.)
Picturesque Canada. Toronto.
Collection of letters in possession of Judge Ermatinger, St. Thomas, Ont.
Letter of Judge Steere. Sault Ste. Marie.
Songs of Dominion, by W. D. Lighthall. London, 1889.
(Chapters XXXII.-XXXVI.)
Journey to Polar Sea, 1819-22, by John Franklin. London, 1823.
Second Journey, 1825-7. London, 1823.
Arctic Expedition, 1829, by John and James Ross.
Arctic Land Expedition, by George Back, 1836.
Arctic Searching Expedition. 2 vols., 1851.
Expedition to Shores of Arctic Sea, by John Rae, 1850.
Arctic Voyages (several authors, Parl. Library, Ottawa).
Travels, by Lewis and Clark, 3 vols. London, 1815.
Travels on the Western Territories, 1805-7, by Zebulon M. Pike.
Keating (and Long)'s Expedition, 2 vols., 1825.
J. C. Beltrami. Pilgrimage of Discovery of Sources of Mississippi. London, 1828.
Brewer (Cass and Schoolcraft), Sources of the Mississippi, published by Minn. Historical Society.
J. H. Lefroy. Magnetic Survey.
Journal of Explorations, by Palliser (and Hector). London, 1863.
Narrative of the Canadian Exploring Expedition, by Hind (and Dawson), 2 vols., 1860.
The North-West Passage by Land, by Milton and Cheadle. London, 1865.
Ocean to Ocean, by G. M. Grant, 1873.
Red River, by Alex. Ross. London, 1856.
Captain Bulger's letters, published for private circulation, 1823.
Notes on the Flood of Red River of 1852, by Bishop Anderson.
Red River. J. J. Hargrave, Montreal, 1871.
Parchment Roll, property of late George McTavish, Winnipeg.
Journal of the Red River Country, by the Rev. John West. London, 1824.
(Chapters XXXVII., XXXVIII.)
Hudson Bay, by R. M. Ballantyne. London, 1848.
Dr. Rae. (Supra.)
Notes on 25 Years of Service, by John McLean. 2 vols. London, 1849.
Ungava Bay, by R. M. Ballantyne. London, 1871.
Explorations in Labrador, by H. Y. Hind, 1863.
Moravian Missions.
The important Chapter XXXVIII. was largely prepared by a Chief Factor of the Hudson's Bay Company, who had long served on the Mackenzie River.
Chief Factor Campbell's discoveries were chiefly obtained from a journal of that officer now in the hands of his son, at Norway House.
(Chapters XXXIX.-XLVII.)
Bancroft's North-West Coast, 2 vols. San Francisco, 1884.
"History of British Columbia, 1890.
Begg's History of British Columbia.
Journal of Trader Ermatinger, property of Judge Ermatinger, St. Thomas, Ont.
Chinook Jargon, by Horatio Hall. London, 1890.
Todd, collection of letters belonging to Judge Ermatinger. (Supra.)
Coues, Alex. Henry. (Supra.)
Miles Macdonell's letters. Archives vol. Ottawa.
Vingt Années de Missions, &c., by Bishop Taché, 1888.
Rainbow of the North, by A.L.O.E. (Miss Tucker).
Notes by Rev. John West. (Supra.)
Red River, by Hargrave. (Supra.)
Journey of Bishop of Montreal, 1844. Pub. 1849.
Red River Settlement, by Alex. Ross. (Supra.)
John Black, Apostle of Red River, by the Writer, 1898.
Hudson Bay, by Rev. John Ryerson. Toronto, 1855.
James Evans. Wm. Briggs, Toronto.
Cree Syllabic.
History of British Columbia. (Supra.)
Hudson's Bay Territories, &c., by R. M. Fitzgerald and Martin. London, 1849.
Indian Tribes. "Canada."—An Encyclopedia. Article by Writer.
Bancroft's Tribes of the Pacific Coast.
Imperial Government Blue-books, 1849-51.
History of Manitoba, by Donald Gunn. Ottawa, 1880.
Imperial Blue-book of 1857.
Canada and the States, by Sir E. W. Watkin, London.
Blue-books of Canada.
Ermatinger letters. (Supra.)
Begg's Creation of Manitoba. Toronto, 1871.
Report of Donald A. Smith. Canadian Blue-book of 1871.
Boulton's Reminiscences of the North-West Rebellion, by Major Boulton, 1886.
Red River Troubles. Report of Canadian House of Commons.
Facts and figures, from Hudson's Bay Company Offices.
SUMMARY OF LIFE OF PIERRE ESPRIT RADISSON.
A. Earlier Life and Voyages (1636-1663).
List of Hudson's Bay Company Posts in 1856, with the Several Districts and the Number of Indians in Each.
In all under Hudson's Bay Company rule, about150,000.
List of Chief Factors in the Hudson's Bay Company Service from the Coalition of 1821 to the Year 1896.
Note.—Under the Deed Polls of 1821, 1834, and 1871, there were 263 commissioned officers, and it is estimated that their nationalities were as follows:—
RUSSIAN AMERICA (ALASKA).
In1825 Great Britain made a treaty with Russia as to the north-west coast of America. The boundary line that has since been a subject of much dispute with the United States, which bought out the rights of Russia, was thus laid down in the Treaty:—
III. "The line of demarcation between the possessions of the high contracting parties, upon the coast of the Continent and the islands of America to the north-west, shall be drawn in the manner following:—Commencing from the southernmost point of the island called Prince of Wales's Island, which point lies in the parallel of 54 degrees 40 minutes, north latitude, and between the 131st and 133rd degree of west longitude (meridian of Greenwich); the said line shall ascend to the north along the channel called Portland Channel, as far as the point of the Continent where it strikes the 56th degree of north latitude; from this last-mentioned point the line of demarcation shall follow the summits of the mountains situated parallel to the coast, as far as the point of intersection of the 141st degree of west longitude (of the same meridian); and finally, from the said point of intersection, the said meridian line of the 141st degree in its prolongation as far as the Frozen Ocean, shall form the limit between the Russian and British possessions on the Continent of America to the north-west.
IV. "With reference to the line of demarcation laid down in the preceding article, it is understood:—
1st. "That the island called Prince of Wales's Island shall belong wholly to Russia.
2nd. "That wherever the summit of the mountains which extend in a direction parallel to the coast, from the 56th degree of north latitude to the point of intersection of the 141st degree of west longitude, shall prove to be at the distance of more than ten marine leagues from the ocean, the limit between the British possessions and the line of coast which is to belong to Russia, as above mentioned, shall beformed by a line parallel to the windings of the coast, and which shall never exceed the distance of ten marine leagues therefrom."
The Hudson's Bay Company, in the year following the Treaty, pushed their posts to the interior, and obtained a hold on the Indians from the coast inward. Making use of their privilege of ascending the river from the coast, they undertook to erect a post upon one of these rivers. This led the Russian American Fur Company to make a vigorous protest, and a long correspondence ensued on the matter. At length, in 1839, the Hudson's Bay Company, chiefly in order to gain access to their Indians of the interior, leased the strip of coast territory from Fort Simpson to Cross Sound for a period of ten years. The following is an extract from the agreement made February 6th, 1839, between the Hudson's Bay and Russian American Fur Companies:—
"The Russian Fur Company cede to the Hudson's Bay Company for a period of ten years, commencing June 1st, 1840, the coast (exclusive of the islands) and the interior country situated between Cape Spencer and latitude 54° 40´ or thereabouts for an annual rental of two thousand seasoned otters.
"The Hudson's Bay Company agree to sell to the Russian Fur Company 2,000 otters taken on the west side of the mountains at the price of 23s.sterling per skin, and 3,000 seasoned otters taken on the east side of the Rocky Mountains at 32s.sterling per skin. The Hudson's Bay Company agree to sell to the Russian Fur Company 2,000 ferragoes (120 lbs. each) of wheat annually for a term of ten years, at the price of 10s.9dsterling per ferrago, also flour, peas, barley, salted beef, butter, and pork hams at fixed prices, under certain provisions.
"The Hudson's Bay Company relinquish the claim preferred by them for damages sustained by them, arising from the obstruction presented by the Russian authorities to an expedition fitted out by the Hudson's Bay Company for entering the Stikine River."
The agreement was continued after the expiration of ten years, but the rental fine changed from a supply of otters to a money payment of 1,500l.a year. The Hudson's Bay Company, as we have seen, pushed their posts down the Yukon River, and only withdrew them after Alaska, in 1867, passed into the possession of the United States. An officer of the Hudson's Bay Company, James McDougall, at present a chief factor of the Company, was the last in command of the Company posts in Alaska, and performed the duty of withdrawing them.