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CHAPTER XII. 



1788 to 1810. 



Establishment of the North- West Fur Trading Company of Montreal, in 1783 — 

 Expeditions of Mackenzie to the Arctic Sea and to the Pacific Coast — The Trade 

 between the North Pacific Coasts of America and Canton conducted almost ex- 

 clusively by Vessels of the United States from 1796 to 1814 — Establishment of 

 the Russian American Company — Its Settlements and Factories on the American 

 Coasts — Expedition of Krusenstern through the North Pacific — Proposition of 

 the Russian Government to that of the United States, with Regard to the Trade 

 of the North Pacific. 



Whilst the navigators of various nations were thus completing 

 the survey of the shores of North-West America, important infor- 

 mation respecting the interior regions of that section of the conti- 

 nent was obtained by the agents of an association formed at 

 Montreal, in 1784, for the prosecution of the fur trade in the Indian 

 territories, which were supposed to be beyond the jurisdiction of 

 the Hudson's Bay Company. 



Before Canada came into the possession of Great Britain, a large, 

 if not the greater, portion of the furs sent from America by the 

 subjects of that power was shipped from New York. After that 

 period, Montreal became the principal seat of the trade ; and dis- 

 putes immediately arose between the Hudson's Bay Company, which 

 claimed the whole division of America drained by streams falling 

 into that sea, and the Canadians, who pursued their trade in the 

 southern and western parts of that territory. These disputes, with 

 which the British government did not, from policy, choose to inter- 

 fere, were injurious to the interests of both parties ; and, the Indian 

 countries north of Lake Superior having been, about the same 

 time, almost depopulated by the smallpox, the trade was confined, 

 for some years, to the environs of Hudson's Bay, the lower lakes, 

 end the St. Lawrence, where the animals were less numerous, and 

 their furs inferior in quality. 



At length, about the year 1775, some enterprising merchants of 

 Montreal penetrated into the countries, far north-west of Lake 

 Superior, drained by the Saskatchawine and Athabasca Rivers, 



