land and build homes among the ruins left by 

 the beaver. Early in the fur industry companies 

 were formed, the Hudson's Bay Company be- 

 coming the most influential and best known. Its 

 charter was granted by Charles II of England on. 

 the 2d day of May, 1669. This company finally 

 developed into one of the greatest commercial 

 enterprises that America has ever known. The 

 skin of the beaver furnished more than half its 

 revenue. There are many features in the history 

 of this company that have never been surpassed 

 in any land. For more than two hundred years it 

 held absolute sway over a country larger than 

 Europe, and for the first one hundred and fifty 

 years of its existence it was the government of the 

 territory where it ruled, and thus determined the 

 social and other standards of life within that ter- 

 ritory. One of the early officials of this company 

 declared that they were on the ground ahead 

 of the missionaries, and said that the initials 

 11 H. B. C." on the banner of the company might 

 well be interpreted as " Here before Christ." 



Kingsford's History of Canada says that in the 

 eighteenth century, Canada exported a moderate 



48 



