AT THE FRONTIER 



" stores " of the Hudson's Bay Company. Its 2,000,000 

 sterling capital stock is owned in London, but the busi- 

 ness of the vast corporation is operated from Winnipeg, 

 with " Commissioner " C. C. Chipman as its executive 

 head. 



Except that goods are now much cheaper and furs 

 much dearer, the fur-trading business of this company is 

 conducted at its inland posts on much the same lines that 

 prevailed when it was first established. The custom of 

 barter still exists, and those who have experienced the 

 difficulties of exchanging with a peddler one article for 

 another will be interested in knowing how this was met 

 by the Hudson's Bay Company. The original principal 

 article of trade for which the Governor and Company of 

 Adventurers first sent out their ships to Hudson's Bay 

 was the beaver-skin. 

 Other furs were soon 

 traded in, and it be- 

 came necessary to 

 have a standard of 

 trade. The " made 

 beaver" i.e., a full- 

 grown dressed bea- 

 ver-skin was taken 

 as the standard, and 

 every article in goods 



or furs priced upon it. Thus, an Indian having brought in 

 a parcel of furs was told that they amounted to so many 

 "made beaver." With this amount, as it were, to his 

 credit, he went into the trading-store and was told the 

 prices of the articles he wished to possess, also in " made 

 beaver." Soon it was found more convenient to have a 

 token which should represent the " made beaver." At 

 first these were made of pieces of wood with notches to 



ONE "MADE BEAVER "TOKEN 



Formerly issued by the Hudson's Bay Company 



