20 



To exist at that time in Red River one had to hunt, and 

 life or death were at the point of the gun. This man had to 

 feed and clothe his wife and four children so he lived much 

 the same kind of life on the Assiniboine as he had done in the 

 Saskatchewan district, only his wife was left at home with 

 her children and he was absent sometimes for months at a time, 

 and on these occasions there was nothing to distract her in 

 her lonliness but the care of her children in a house which 

 was hardly large enough for herself alone. 



In the autumn of 1815 M. Lajimoniere announced that 

 he would be away for a longer time than usual. But before 

 telling of his journey and of the hardships that his wife had 

 to endure in his absence we must speak of the events which 

 had taken place in Red River between the Trading Companies. 



The Great North- West Company founded in 1784 by a 

 society of Montreal merchants had always been, since its in- 

 corporation, antagonistic to the Hudson's Bay Company, its 

 rival in the fur trade of the far North. 



Whenever one Company built a fort the other hastened 

 to erect another beside it and each tried to secure the most 

 skins. Towards the years 1806 and 1807 the shares of the 

 Hudson's Bay Company were very far inferior to those of the 

 North- West Company which at that time was at the height 

 of its success.* At this epoch a Scotch nobleman, Thomas 

 Douglas, Lord Selkirk, came to Montreal to enquire into the 

 state of the commerce of the two Companies. On returning 

 to England he bought almost half the shares in the Hudson's 

 Bay Company, which had fallen as low as 60 after having 

 been at 250 per cent. 



The capital of the Hudson's Bay Company was £100,000, 

 sterling. Tord Selkirk bought shares to the amount of £40,- 

 000. One can judge what effect this would have upon the 

 Company. 



Encouraged by the success of his first speculations he 

 formed the design of monopolizing the exclusive trade of all 

 the territories of the North West for the Hudson's Bay Com- 

 pany. He knew after the explanations that he had received 

 at Montral that a Company, having no other to compete with 

 it, would realize a colossal fortune by the fur trade. 



Eor this reason he bought shares in the Company and a 

 large tract of land on the banks of the Red River and an- 

 nounced in Europe that he intended to found a Colony there. 



* This was in 1803.— Ed. 



