FOREST AND STREAM. 
March 14, 1903.] 
— 
The Posts of the Fur Trade. 
Of the old posts of the American fur trade which once 
dotted the banks of the Missouri, the Platte, and other 
of our western rivers and lakes, few traces now remain. 
One may turn over in a hotel at Mackinac the account 
books of the Astor traffic in that portion of the then 
Northwest, and at other points in the far West the rem- 
nant of a log stockade or tumble-down building, once 
part of an old trading post, may still be found. But the 
march of settlement, the competition of private traders, 
and the disappearance of game long ago relegated the 
distinctive posts of the fur trade to the oblivion of desue- 
tude, as they broke the monopoly of the traffic itself. 
It is only north of the forty-ninth parallel, where the 
fur trade is yet largely under corporate control, that its 
trading posts still constitute, as they did a hundred years 
ago, the centers of commerce and industry of great dis- 
tricts. Time moves slowly in that region; and though 
in recent years the tide of immigration has in its southern 
portion wrought many changes, in the north the posts 
still stand much as they were when the long struggle 
between the Northwest Fur Company and the company 
of adventurers from England trading into Hudson's Bay 
ended by coalition in 182 1. 
At that date the posts of the fur trade had been scat- 
tered throughout the northern quarter of the continent, 
and as they were then, so in greater part they are to-day. 
The requisitions for the trade of this year repeat those 
made when Samuel liearne set forth from Fort Fond du 
Lac to reach the Frozen Sea, and Mackenzie wandered 
out from Fort Chipewyan to explore the great river that 
bears his name. The staples of the Indian trade are still 
the same. The red man brings to the post his winter 
catch of marten and beaver and musquash, and gets in 
return strouds and cotton cloth and beads and ammuni- 
tion._ But he knows better now the value of his furs, 
and is no longer willing to pay for his trade musket by 
piling up beaver skins beside its barrel until they are 
level with the muzzle. 
The necessities of transportation had, of course, first 
consideration in the location of the posts of the fur 
trade. In the early days of the traffic, practically all 
transport was by water. Forts and factories were built 
on the sea coast; for the receipt of goods and the ship- 
ment of furs by sea greatly simplified the problem of 
transportation. It was easier to let the Indians bring 
their furs down the rivers to the coast than for the 
traders to push inland. After a time, however, supplies 
found their way by boat and canoe through the Great 
Lakes, and thence into the interior by river and stream. 
Ihe English company no longer confined its operations 
to the shores of Hudson's Bay, but using its factories 
there largely as depots, forwarded its supplies thence 
westward and northward by lake and waterway to the 
Rockies and the far-away banks of the Athabasca and 
Great Slave Lake. The heights of land were portaged — 
the goods unloaded and carried by the boatmen from the 
head of one stream to that of another, and the boats 
then dragged or carried over, to be launched anew. 
Inevitably the process was a slow one. Owing to the 
vast distances traversed, goods destined for the far 
western and northern posts were two and sometimes 
three years in transit. Reaching the shores of Hudson's 
Bay in August or early September, they lay in the depots 
there until the ice left the rivers in the ensuing spring. 
Then they began their inland journey, following the 
courses of the rivers entering the bay, to reach in the 
autumn the posts on Lake Winnipeg. There they re- 
mained during another winter, when they were again 
started westward and northward; a part finding lodg- 
ment among the posts along the route, and the remain- 
der again stored in the larger forts further to the 
north for distribution during the following year to the 
remoter posts and outposts. 
Limited thus to water transport, the posts of the 
fur trade were located primarily with a view to their 
accessibility by boat and canoe, strategic positio-n be- 
ing, of course, assured. They stand, therefore, for 
the most part, on the second or lower bank of lake and 
stream, though not infrequently they are perched on 
the loftier outer bank, with a view of long river reaches 
and wide stretches of forest and plain. , Briefly, they 
may be described as collections of wood&n buildings 
grouped together in square or oblong form, and sur- 
rounded by stockades of hewn logs. In the far north, 
however, this defense is frequently lacking; while in 
the southern portions of the territory it was, until 
comparatively recent years, stout and lofty, and so 
reinforced by bastions as to suggest a military strong- 
hold rather than a peaceful trading establishment. 
This difference was, of course, chiefly due to the 
exigencies of the trade. In the prairie region, extend- 
ing from the forty-ninth parallel to the sub-Arctic 
forest north of the north branch of the Saskatchewan, 
traffic was with Indians of the plains. These were 
predatory, horse-riding, buffalo-hunting tribes, war- 
ring with each other and fairly supplied through free- 
traders from the American side of the line, with mod- 
ern weapons of precision. And though the Hudson's 
Bay Company dwelt on fairly amicable terms with 
them, the Indians finding it to their interest to permit 
the maintenance of trading posts among them, peace 
could not always be relied upon. It sometimes hap- 
pened that Cree, or Blackfoot, or Stony insisted upon 
a credit which could not be given him, or thought him- 
self cheated in a trade, or became possessed with a 
wild desire to acquire the white man's goods without 
an equivalent in furs and robes. In this event, and 
especially when a small quantity of spirits was dis- 
tributed after a general barter of robes, the protection 
of a stout stockade was essential to the maintenance 
of the fur trade. 
In the north, however, the tribes were less warlike 
and dangerous. They were largely wood Indians, 
without horses, and practically inaccessible to other 
traders than those of the Hudson's Bay Company. 
Their supply of firearms was only that which the com- 
pany chose to give, and was limited to the single-bar- 
reled trade musket of short range. They hunted the 
moose, bear and reindeer, fished in the rivers and 
lakes, and trapped the smaller fur-bearing animals. 
As game was scarcer than in the plain country, and 
the Indians were always improvident, it often happened 
that the fur company had to tide them over a hard 
winter from its own stores, giving them gratuitously 
the very provisions it had purchased from them in 
the summer. The relations between the two were thus 
more friendly, and the Indians more dependent than 
in the plains. In consequence, the wooden palisade 
about the northern posts of the fur trade, and espe- 
cially the smaller outposts, were sometimes omitted; 
and, though they generally appear, their utility is rather 
to isolate the little garrison and prevent pilfering than 
for defense. 
The stockades are usually made of stout logs, placed 
horizontally or upright in the ground, with projecting 
bastions at each corner, though in a few of the larger 
posts in the south they are built partly or wholly of 
stone. The term "fort," generally applied to the posts 
of the fur trade, is especially applicable to these lat- 
ter, which, at a distance, present much of the appear- 
ance of the old-time military fortification. The high 
walls are pierced with loopholes and embrasures, the 
heavy, two-story turrets project sufficiently to give an 
enfilading fire, and a wooden gallery extending about 
the inside of the walls, affords standing room for rifle- 
men. Another name often used interchangeably with 
forts and posts and houses to denote the stations of 
the trade, is that of "factories." which, however, ap- 
plies more strictly to the receiving posts on the coast, 
notably to those on the south and west shores of 
Hudson's Bay. 
Inside the stockade, facing the gateway, and occupy- 
ing the center of the inclosure, generally stands the 
residence of the factor or trader in charge, and of the 
clerks and upper class of employes. The building is 
usually a substantial two-story structure, roomy and 
comfortably furnished. In it is held the officers' mess, 
and whatever of social life there is in the post may be 
said to transpire there. Here the passing stranger is 
entertained, the meager budget of local and foreign 
news discussed, the little hoard of books and newspa- 
pers kept, and the indoor games and pastimes indulged in. 
In summer, at the larger posts, it is likely to be the 
scene of much bustle and excitement, due to the enter- 
tainment of oflfiers from other posts en route in charge 
of boat brigades. But in winter, when the snow lies 
deep within the stockade, and trade is almost sus- 
pended, and the daily routine becomes largely a matter 
,of form, the little community is driven back upon its 
own resources for enjoyment. It is then that books 
and papers and music become serious occupations, and 
that anything which may break the monotony of daily 
life and offer a new experience is eagerly sought. 
Ranged about the palisade, and facing in to form a 
hollow square, stand the other buildings of the post — 
the trading-shop, the goods and fur warehouses, the 
houses of the men, etc. They are substantial struc- 
tures, built of logs and hand-sawn lumber, with roofs 
generally of the pavilion shape. The trade-room, the 
object of deepest interest to the stranger, differs little 
in appearance from the general store on our western 
frontier. Upon its shelves are found all the staple 
articles of the Indian trade — blankets, clothes of all 
colors, capotes, bright handkerchiefs, beads, fire- 
steels and fish hooks, steel traps, canoe awls, needles, 
paint, etc. From the rafters hang kettles, tin and iron 
ware, and other commodities likely to be required by 
the red man. In the posts in the prairie country guns 
used to~be largely kept in stock; and in later years, 
owing to the competition of free-traders, a consider- 
able trade was done in magazine arms. In the north, 
however, traffic in these weapons has always been dis- 
couraged, primarily for the better protection of game, 
but also to diminish the possibility of formidable at- 
tack. 
In all the posts there is a large trade in tea, the 
consumption of which in the territory under the in- 
fluence of the fur company is enormous, in one de- 
partment alone exceeding one hundred and fifty thou- 
sand pounds annually. Tobacco also figures largely in 
the yearly requisitions, mostly in the shape of manu- 
factured plug, which the Indians and half-breeds cut 
fine and mix with the bark of the gray willow in smok- 
ing. Liquors are sold in considerable quantities at 
the posts contiguous to white settlements; but in the 
remoter districts their sale is practically prohibited, 
■ and in no case are they given the Indians in exchange 
for furs. 
Formerly, along th': southern line of posts, in the 
prairie country, a small quantity of spirits was issued 
at the conclusion of a trade for robes in which a con- 
siderable body of Indians took part; though then only 
on condition that it should be "drunk off the premises," 
that is, at a distance of a mile or more frorn the post. 
■ Moreover, knowledge born of long experience, that 
the red man would inevitably demand a further sup- 
ply, always led to a resolute bolting of gates against 
his return. 
The custom was, however, regarded as a nuisance 
by the fur company. It was continued chiefly to retain 
a trade in robes which, without it, would have gone 
to the free-traders, always ready to supply liquors 
when the ordinary articles of tralTic proved unattrac- 
tive. What a nuisance it was will appear from an inci- 
dent related by an officer in charge at Fort Pelly. It 
seems that his predecessor at the post had on several 
occasions yielded to the importunities of the Indians, 
and violated the rule against furnishing a second sup- 
ply of spirits. When the new officer attempted to put 
the prohibition into force, an attack was promptly 
made upon the post, continued in desultory fashion 
for three days, during which business was entirely sus- 
pended, and the exposed portions of the houses riddled 
with bullets. 
In the old days of the fur trade, as it still is in the 
more northerly and remote posts, trade was wholly 
a matter of barter, so many furs for so much goods. 
The unit of computation was the "castor," a beaver 
skin, which seldom exceeded two English shillings in 
value. By this standard all payment for services was 
made, and the prices of all other furs were governed. 
Thus the Indian paid for his six-shilhng blanket three 
beavers, and received for his Rocky Mountain sable, 
say, from twenty to thirty beavers. Visiting the trad- 
ing shop, he handed over his skins to the trader, who 
separated them into piles, and placed the valuation 
upon each. If the red man had sixty beavers' worth 
he was given sixty little pieces of wood representing 
the number of castors. With these, when his debt for 
advances was paid, he proceeded to supply his wants, 
never stopping until his last wooden coin was ex- 
pended. 
But while this system of barter still obtains through- 
out the larger part of the fur company's domain, in a 
rapidly increasing number of posts, the dollar is be- 
coming the recognized medium of exchange, supersed- 
ing the promissory notes of the corporation. These 
notes, with which business was formerly transacted 
with the whites and half-breeds at the posts along 
the borders of civilization, were redeemable by bills 
of exchange drawn at sixty days' sight on the Hud- 
son's Bay Company in London. They were of several 
denominations, from one shilling to five pounds, were 
about the size of a half sheet of letter paper, and were 
known euphoniously as "Hudson's Bay blankets." As 
they were readily redeemed in gold at Fort Garry, and 
were more easily carried than coin, they enjoyed a 
popularity quite equal to our own greenbacks. 
It may be said to the credit of the fur company that 
only the best goods are sold at its posts, and that on 
many articles the margin of profit is so small as at 
times to wholly disappear. In the old days, when the 
company came into more direct competition with its 
American rivals along the line of the Missouri, the 
selling prices of the latter, as compared with the cost 
prices, were about six times greater than those fixed 
by the Hudson's Bay Company's tariff. That the 
profits of its traffic have in many years been enor- 
mous the heavy dividends paid, and the addition to 
capital stock under which they have been covered up, 
bear ample witness. But in considering the wide dif- 
ference in the price paid by the Indian, say, on Great 
Slave Lake, for his blankets and tobacco and those re- 
ceived for his furs in London, it is well to remember 
the toil and hardship of those who took the blanket to 
market, and that seven years often elapse before the 
return to London of the skins for which it was bar- 
tered. 
Moreover, in the purchase of furs and the sale of 
goods, every Indian receives the same treatment. In 
every district there is one fixed price for all commo- 
dities. No Indian ever got more for his furs or pays 
less for his supplies than the tariff directs. If 
he is an expert hunter and trapper, he may re- 
ceive a present after his furs are traded, sometimes 
up to the value of fifty skins. Occasionally, too, pres- 
ents are made to keep the Indians true to their alle- 
giance, especially in the southern part of the terri- 
tory, where the competition of the independent traders 
is strong. But in no case does one Indian get more 
for his furs than another. 
It not infrequently happens, however, that the prices 
paid for certain furs is arbitrarily cut down far below 
their intrinsic value. On the theory of preserving the 
goose that lays the golden eggs, a close watch is kept 
by the officers of the various districts for indications 
of failure in the supply of any fur. If the number of 
marten or fisher or silver fox skins traded during the 
present year proves much smaller than that of last 
year, the price of these furs is promptly reduced, and 
the Indian trapper encouraged to hunt something else 
by a corresponding increase of price. The fisher and 
martens thus have a chance to recuperate, the com- 
pany rotating its crops in this fashion, like a wise 
farmer. But this is by the way. 
Ordinarily the trade room in a post is without spe- 
cial protection from attack; though in some of the 
forts in the plain country the approach to it was, in 
the earlier days, so contrived as to prevent surprise 
by any considerable body of Indians during a trade. 
Only a few Indians were admitted at a time. Loop- 
holes in the walls and ceiling were so arranged as to 
permit firing upon the hostile braves from different 
directions; and the room was cut off by bolts and bars 
from the rest of the establishment. But with the 
progress of settlement, and the gradual civilization of 
the plain tribes, this danger has disappeared, and the 
trade rooms are now as accessible as any country store. 
Next to the trading shop comes the warehouses con- 
taining the goods from England and elsewhere, in- 
tended for the fur trade. A peculiarity of these pack- 
ages is their uniform weight, which ranges from eighty 
to one hundred pounds, the average being, perhaps, 
ninety pounds. The adoption of this standard weight 
is due to the numerous "portages" which occur on all 
the routes of transport, across which, frequently for 
considerable distances, the packages have to be carried 
on the shoulders of the boatmen. Each man carries 
two of these "inland pieces," as they are called, sup- 
porting them by a broad leather strap passing under 
them and about the forehead of the bearer. _ Neces- 
sarily, to withstand the frequent reshipments incident 
to the long inland journeys, the packages have to be 
stout, many of them being lined with zinc and bound 
with iron. The boats used in transport each carry 
seventy-five of these pieces; and the facility with which 
they are handled by the crews is little less than mar- 
velous, the boats being loaded and unloaded within five 
minutes. 
The fur warehouses follow in appearance those for 
the storage of gpods, though they have a distinct 
odor of their own. From the ceilings hang beautiful 
warm-tinted masses of fur, of sable and fox, red, black 
and gray, destined to bring many a shining gold piece 
at the annual sales of the company in London. Fur 
skins lie piled in bales upon the floor, or in racks 
along the wall; all that is visible being the raw hide 
flattened, with an inner lining of fur at the extremities. 
For the hunter merely strips the skin from the smaller 
fur-bearing animals, drawing it off like a glove, and 
permitting it to dry hide outward. 
