THE HUDSON BAY COMPANY. 
S. A. PADDOCK. 
In 1670 a party of men bound together 
under the name of the Hudson Bay Com- 
pany, came to America for the purpose of 
carrying on a fur trade with the Indians, 
and immediately built a few forts along 
the cheerless shores of the vast, landlocked 
body of water from which their company 
derived its name. They were under the 
patronage of Prince Rupert, second cousin 
to Charles Il. Their charter gave them 
the grant of exclusive trade, besides full 
possession in perpetuity of all lands in the 
watershed of Hudson bay. A _ lucrative 
trade with the redskins was soon estab- 
lished, and large dividends were paid to 
the fortunate shareholders until near the 
close of the 18th century. Then the com- 
pany’s prosperity began to be seriously 
affected by the energetic competition of 
Canadian fur traders. 
While Canada was owned by the French, 
the Company, because of the monopoly 
which it enjoyed, carried on its business in 
anything but an enterprising way. It was 
content to wait on the coast for furs to be 
brought to it, instead of pushing into the 
interior and sending forth agents. The 
conquest of Canada by England in 1761 
revolutionized the fur trade and, indeed, 
ruined it for several years. Then the Brit- 
ish began trading with the Western Indian 
tribes, and worked farther and farther into 
the forest until the Athabasca and Church- 
ill rivers were finally reached. 
The Hudson Bay Company was roused 
from its torpor by the competition of other 
traders and in 1774 established a fort on 
Sturgeon lake. Up to that time almost 
nothing had been done toward the explora- 
tion of its extensive territories. 
The same year an obstacle more serious 
than the opposition of a rival company 
arose in the shape of a conspiracy among 
the Indians to exterminate the traders. 
But it was the redskins who were exter- 
minated, or nearly so; not by the paleface, 
but by that dread disease, the smallpox. 
The scourge raged until only a few insur- 
gent natives remained alive. That con- 
spiracy was the direct cause of the con- 
solidation of the scattered Canadian fur 
traders into an association, consisting of 16 
and later of 30 partners, under the name of 
the Northwest Company of Canada. It 
strove vigorously but vainly to force the 
Hudson Bay Company out of the field. Its 
agents busied themselves with exploring 
the vast territory of Canada, and estab- 
lished several trading posts. The most 
famous of their explorers was Alexander 
118 
Mackenzie who, in 1789, reached the Arctic 
ocean and discovered the mouth of the great 
river which now bears his name. Later 
he crossed the Rocky mountains and fol- 
lowed the Fraser river to its mouth in 
Georgian gulf. 
Thus it came about that the new com- 
pany in time ruled the country from the 
Canadian lakes to the Rockies. It even en- 
croached on its rival’s territory to the North 
and forced it to act or be wiped out of ex- 
istence. Accordingly the original com- 
pany pushed its posts farther into the in- 
terior, and in 1821 established a settlement 
on Red River, South of Lake Winnipeg, 
thus putting an obstacle in the way of its 
competitor. The Northwest Company was 
not inclined to tolerate this, and a mighty 
quarrel broke out, resulting in a war, last- 
ing 2 years and ending only when the Red 
River settlers were forced from their posi- 
tion after the murder of Semple, their goy- 
ernor, in 1816. Though that was the end 
of active warfare it was not-until 1821 that 
the terrible feud came to an end. It must 
be remembered that at that time law had 
little force in the trackless wilderness. 
The feud had a most demoralizing effect 
on the Indians, for both sides, each endeav- 
oring to swell the numbers of its allies, sup- 
plied whiskey in unlimited quantities to the 
Indians. As a consequence the whole re- 
gion became the scene of battle, and if it 
had long continued the most important 
tribes would probably have been extermi- 
nated. 
The income from the fur trade was rapid- 
ly diminished until both companies were 
forced to discontinue dividends. This state 
of affairs existed about 6 years. It was 
seen that if the feud did not soon end both 
parties would be ruined. There was but 
one thing to do, and that was to band to- 
gether into one company. This they did in 
1821, under the old name of the Hudson 
Bay Company. After that, the former ene- 
mies, working for mutual benefit. pros- 
pered and were soon able to pay half yearly 
dividends of 5 per cent. 
The Indians also prospered, for whiskey 
was denied them by the Company. In fact, 
the savages had to go without fire water 
until 1873, when whiskey smugglers from 
the United States supplied them with it. 
The wily smugglers returned across the 
boundary with their wagons loaded with 
furs and in certain parts of the country the 
Company’s great warehouses remained 
empty throughout the year. 
The Canadian Government was called on 

