AT THE FRONTIER 9 



and how it came in the land, is necessary to a proper un- 

 derstanding of the country into which I hope to carry the 

 reader. 



The Hudson's Bay Company had not reached out to a 

 very great extent, content with the fur gathered by their 

 half-dozen " factories," of which York and Churchill were 



: 



SARCEE AND SQUAW "AT HOME" 



the earliest and most important, and the only means of 

 communication with which was by the ships that col- 

 lected the furs and distributed the supplies annually de- 

 spatched from England. But the Northwest Company 

 brought a new spirit into the country; they pressed for 

 trade with such avidity and determination as to carry 



