-YNVEUfl 7 30 7/ 
970 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Dec. i8 , 1909- 
A Day in Wirvnipeg 
By JUVENAL 
P ERHAPS there is no place on this conti¬ 
nent where the old and the new, the work 
of the pioneers and the work of modern 
enterprise stand closer together or are more 
clearly contrasted than in Winnipeg, Manitoba. 
On first arrival the traveler finds himself in a 
modern, well-built, well-appointed, well-cared- 
for hustling city. Evidences of enterprise, 
energy, wealth and the results of their combina¬ 
tion are on every hand. Broad, well-paved, 
clean-kept and electric-lighted streets measur¬ 
ing about 300 miles are bordered by business 
blocks and private residences, hotels and public 
buildings that would do credit to any city. And 
the people are there in great numbers to use and 
enjoy them. But the visitor soon finds that he 
is also in contact with something new because 
so old, and strange because having almost noth¬ 
ing in harmony with present relations except the 
human qualities of steadfast honesty and devo¬ 
tion to duty. While wandering along the streets 
noting the transportation and other business 
facilities of this young prairie city, or admiring 
the display of goods in the store windows, the 
eye is suddenly arrested by sights which turn 
the thought into entirely (Efferent channels. 
Bear skins and other furs and wilderness cloth¬ 
ing appear, and one suddenly realizes that he 
is on the very spot where for generations cen¬ 
tered the fur trade of the great Northwest with 
its hardy, picturesque trappers, its courageous 
traders, its energetic and loyal factors and its 
everywhere-present patron, manager and sup¬ 
porter—the Hudson Bay Company. It is but a 
step from the company’s present 
flourishing department store to 
what remains of old Ft. Garry. 
But it is a long hark back from 
present conditions to the methods 
and life of the old fort. 
The Hudson Bay Company has 
been in the fur trade nearly 250 
years. What an army of Indians, 
trappers, traders, factors and ex¬ 
ecutives have been in its employ! 
What changes it has witnessed— 
of many of them itself the prin¬ 
cipal cause—but mid them all 
what fidelity to its interests! I 
heard a good-natured and amus¬ 
ing argument in the library of 
the Parliament Building between 
Prof. Smith, of the Civil Ser- . 
vice of the Dominion, and one 
of the venerable ex-chief factors 
of the company, in which the pro¬ 
fessor charged that it was the obstructive policy 
of the company opposing the settling up of the 
country which caused the Crown to lose the 
great territory of Oregon to the United States. 
The factor combatted this position for a while, 
though admitting “the company was not out for 
development of the country, but for fur,” and 
finally said: “Well, of course we had to take 
care of our own.” This the Hudson Bay Com¬ 
pany has always done. 
At first and for long beaver skins were the 
main object of search and of trade—other furs 
being mere accessories—and the “made beaver, 
namely, a beaver skin properly dressed, was the 
standard and medium of exchange in all wilder¬ 
ness trade. Money was unknown; everything 
RODERICK M ACFARLANE. 
large and 
was barter, and when after many years a metal 
medium of exchange was introduced for con¬ 
venience, it was not money, but only a metal 
disc stamped to represent the whole or part of 
a made beaver. The passing from these crude 
. 
w 
Hv.v 
AN OLD PRINT OF FORT GARRY. 
and dog team no longer bring furs or goods; the 
steam and motorboat and the railroad have dis¬ 
placed them as effectively as the modern city has . 
old Ft. Garry. This was torn, down twenty- 
three years ago and only the northwest corner 
gateway remains, and of this only the site and 
the stone work are original; the wood work has 
been renewed to preserve the relic. It is now 
well covered with Virginia creeper and the site 
is a little park. 
The mighty transformation that has taken 
place seems not more wonderful than the little 
time of its accomplishment. In 1870 Ft. Garry 
was Winnipeg. In and around the fort was a 
population of 215 souls. To-day the city has a 
population of about 135,000, bank clearings of 
over $600,000,000, thirty-three schools, five col¬ 
leges and 115 churches. The population doubled 
in the last five years. In Winnipeg the new is 
not very old. More than $50,000,000 worth of 
new buildings were erected in the past six 
years. 
It was a pleasure to meet Roderick McFar- 1 
lane, one of the oldest of the retired chief fac¬ 
tors’ of the Hudson Bay Company. Born in 
Scotland, he entered the employ of the company 
and came to York Factory at eighteen years of 
age in 1852. He said: “On arrival I was told 
I must smoke; everyone did, and I must. So 
I tried it twice with an old clay pipe, but it 
sickened me and so I have never smoked, and 
I have often been thankful for it.” 
He is now enjoying the fruitage of his tem¬ 
perate life, being still hale and hearty after 
forty-three years of service to the company, and 
now at the age of seventy-five years. He was 
made chief factor in 1875 at Port au Grand, and 
retired in 1896. 
Another genial Scot is J. P. Robertson, the 
provincial librarian. By his courtesy we saw the. 
assembly room of imposing associations, where 
hang excellent portraits in oil 
of the King and Queen of Eng 
land, also of the former premi 
of the province. Quite in lin 
with American democratic ide; 
one of these former premier 
was an Indian halfbreed. Othei 
residents of prosperous Winni 
peg were also very courteou 
and ready to do all in thei 
power to make the visit pleas 
ant and profitable. Mr. Lang 
the bookseller, gave a cordia 1 
invitation to the annual bait 
quet of the Canadian Club, whic 
unfortunately had to be de 
dined, as travelers cannot a' 
ways visit, but the stop at Wir 
nipeg was full of interest. Tb 
whole day was both revelatio* 
and inspiration. 
methods to a money basis of transactions does 
not show greater change than the methods and 
business of the company itself. While still deal¬ 
ing in furs, its long chain of department stores, 
stretching well nigh across the continent, and 
handling modern goods of every sort, not only 
mark the comparative and growing scarcity of 
valuable fur, but largely produce the 40 to 50 
per cent, profits on the stock of the company. 
But the picturesqueness, the adventure, the 
romance of the old days are gone from Win¬ 
nipeg. The voyageur, the \ ork boat, the sledge 
Killing the Wrong Bird. 
Frank Detrick, who lives two miles belo 
Milford, Pa., discovered a hawk pursuing 1 
smaller bird high in the air near the Detrid 
farm. The smaller bird, in its maneuverings 
escape from its pursuer, dropped lower in tl 
air and finally alighted on the roof of Detrich 
barn. The hawk attacked the bird on the bar 
Detrick got his gun and shot at the hawk, b 
killed the other bird which fell to the ground ai 
Detrick discovered that it was a homing pigec 
