University of Calgary PRISM: University of Calgary's Digital Repository Libraries & Cultural Resources Libraries & Cultural Resources Research & Publications 1987 The fur trade and Western Canadian society, 1670-1870 Pannekoek, Frits, 1949- The Canadian Historical Association http://hdl.handle.net/1880/44179 book Downloaded from PRISM: https://prism.ucalgary.ca efr -ON iBnxoos ivbmoisiH NOIIVIOOSSV ivomoisiH NVIQVNVO 3Hi 910 Axaioos NVIdVNVO MH3XS3AV aavHXQN nVa j HHX i. i a H A B r UNMRSITY 0> CAllUH* Series Editors: Terry Cook (National Archives of Canada) Gabrielle Blais (National Archives Canada)of Copyright by THE CANADIAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION OTTAWA, 1987 ISSN 0068-886 ISBN 0-88798-123-2 Portage.e Coverth t "A : Hudson's y Company'sBa Employes theirn o Annual Expedition"y b H.A. Ogden.from Picturesque Canada (1882), vol. I,p. 308b. Courtesy Nationale oth f Archivesf o Canada, C-82974. THTRADR EFU E AND WESTERN CANADIAN SOCIETY 1670-1870 Frits Pannekoek Ottawa, 1987 CANADIAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION HISTORICAL BOOKLET No. 43 Frits Pannekoe Netherland e bors th kwa n i gren d i san p w u rural Alberta. He completed his B.A. (Honours) and M.A. at Universite th Albertaf Ph.Dys o hi t Queen'd .a an , s University (Kingston) in Western Canadian fur trade studies. He was Chief of Historical Researc r Parkfo h s Canada, Prairie Region, Winnipeg, from 1975 to 1979, and since then has been Director Historie ofth c Sites Service, Alberta Culture alse H .o serves sa Secretary to the Provincial Historic Sites Board and as Alberta's representative to the Canadian Permanent Committee on Geographical Names s EditoA . Chien i r f Prairieo f Forum (1980-1986) opportunite th d ha e h ,assis o yt furtherinn i t e gth caus Westerf eo n Canadian scholarship publicationn ow s Hi . s focus on the Red River settlement and the early Western missionaries. THE FUR TRADE AND WESTERN CANADIAN SOCIETY, 1670-1870 Introduction The political, economic, and social history of present day Northwest Territories, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba, was, for the first two hundred years of European contact produc,a fue rth tradef to variout .A s posts alon region'e gth s principal river lakesd san , traders would exchange such manufactured goods sa blankets, beads, guns, tobacco axed nativr an ,s fo e supplie beaverf so , marten, muskrad an t pelts factn .I , abundanbeaveo s s rwa t tha cam t treateti e b o ea t s da currency throughout the Canadian North West. This trading system was highly complex, involvin t onl Frenche gno y th , Scottish Canadiad an , n tradero swh came from the St. Lawrence Valley, and the British traders who came from Hudso wity nhBa their financial bas Englanden i varioue th t ,bu s native groups t onl tradr actua e store no fu historth e y th s e f i th y o wellls th d a tradf yo An . e itselfsocietw alst ne bu ,o e ythath create f intermingline to th y db fuf go r traders natived Westere an th n si n interior. Such noted scholars as Harold Adam Innis and Donald Creighton have asserted that Canada exist presens it n si t form because fue rth s treadef o wa r .Fu the single product or "staple" — like cod fish earlier in the Maritimes or wheat prairiee th laten a o n si e r tonperioe th dominanr o th s et fo tha s dse — to wa t s ta nation or region's economic and social development. The settlements, trans- portation routes, and financial structures created in support of the fur trade, in this view, moulded the east-west geographical unity of Canada. Innis remarked of Canada thar "presenhe t t boundaries wer dominance resule th eth f o t f eo furs...." examination A tradr fu e musth f no t first focus, therefore varioue th n o , s European thrusts into the interior from the St. Lawrence Valley and from Hudson Bay, the nrivae turth lo n t economic , social transportatiod ,an n patterns which emerged from thes traditionso etw finalld ,an y result e looth t ktheif a s o r conflict and eventual merger. Moreover, the fur trade was more than the story of fur trader theid san r activities. Native peopl strona d eha g impac trade th en to equallt i significana d d an yha t influenc nativn eo e life. Likewise peoplew ne ,a , smalo n Metis e d tradlth createe s tradeffecha e th wa ,d th e n eo y itselfan td b . Finally, new elements, perhaps best symbolized by the Christian missionaries, entered the Western interior in the nineteenth century to challenge the old supremac tradr eventuas lead it fu ee o an dt th f lyo demise. What emerges from the study of these various themes is a portrait of a unique socia economid an l c structure that helpe shapo dt continued ean affeco st e th t histor f Westeryo Northerd nan n Canada. Two Fur Trade Traditions J ~" ' The fur trade conflict between the St. Lawrence and Hudson Bay traders can be divided into four distinct chronological periods: from 1670 to 1763, 1763 to 1904,1904 to 1821, and 1821 to 1870. The first period following 1670 saw both establishmene th Britise th f o th presenc shoree e th th n Hudsof d eso o an y nBa initial e Frencforayth y . b shLawrenc St fro e mth e Valley int e Westeroth n interior. In 1668 Pierre Esprit Radisson and Medard Chouart, Sieur des Groseilliers disenchanteo ,tw d French-Canadian fur traders convinced ,ha e dth English cour severad tan l English businessmen that easy accesbese r th tfu o st norte th ho lant througy dla h Hudson Bay. Withi yearso nHudson'tw e ,th y sBa Compan beed yha n formed t proceedeI . d thereafte placo t r e posts eth it t sa mouths of the major rivers leading into the Bay, in order to entice the Indians of the interior to come to the Bay to trade. The later appearance of rival traders Francfrow mNe theid ean r Indian allies, intent upo destructioe nth e th f no British trade, precipitate dgeneratioa aggressivf no e conflict. Between 173d 1an 1749, Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, Sieur de La Verendrye, and his family established various posts in what is now Northwestern Ontario and southern Manitob briefld aan y secure dSaskatchewae parth f o t n countr tradr yfu r efo Francew Ne defeae Th . Francf o t Britaiy eb 1759-6n ni 0 abruptly interrupted these pressure . Lawrences St fro e mmomentth e t onlth r ,bu yfo . The first period of truly intense competition, which was often vicious enough to generate violence among trading rivals, followed the establishment of British control over New France in 1763 and the subsequent effort to "deregulate" the Montreal-based St. Lawrence fur trade. A new breed of independent trader emerged to replace the renowned coureurs de bois as fur traders. These "pedlars," of first French and then British extraction, moved north and west into distane th t interior. Having established their initial bas f Lak t eitheo ea d e en r Superior — Michilimackinac to the east and Kaministikwia (later Ft. William, Thundew no pedlare rwes e th Bay th — to s )t took their trade goods deep into Westere th n interior, where they spen wintee th t r trading wit nativee hth r sfo furs. Then, at an annual rendez-vous back at the Great Lakes, they would pay off their Montreal-based suppliers with the furs they had accumulated, collect new trading t ofgoodsrepeao t fse processe d th tan , . Ofte pedlarnx fivsi r eo s compete tradr dfo e from wha essentialls twa singlya e location. The competition among both pedlars and the various Montreal interests who supplied them was so ruinous as to force both into annual agree- ments or partnerships. The men in the interior soon became known as "winter- ing partners" or "winterers." The first major partnership of this kind occurred in 1779. This did not mean, however, that all were joined thereafter in peaceful unification. Competition continue flamee th n animositf so fa o dt violencd yan e which remained part of the fur trade way of life. Alexander Mackenzie, the famous explore traderd ran , wrot particularla f eo y unpleasant situation, which led in turn to another union of interests in 1787: partnersr ou Aftef murdeo e lamine e th r, th on f anothef rgo o d ran the narrow escape of one of our clerks, who received a bullet through his powder horn, in the execution of his duty, they [the Northwesters] were compelled to allow us a share in the trade. As lf, alreadd ha e yw incurre lossda , this union was vern i , y respecta , desirable even us...o t t . Ultimately mora , e forma comprehensivd an l e union betwee nvarieta e th f yo wintering and Montreal partners was forged in 1804 as the North West Company. During this perio internecinf do e warfare amon. LawrencSt e gth e traders, Hudson'e th Company exactlt sBa no d yha been "sleepin frozee th y gnb seas "a its detractors charged. Fro late meth 1760 sen C feweo 1774tn o s t HB re tha,th n forty-four expeditions lead by William Tomison, Samuel Hearne, William Pink, and Louis Primo, among others. These expeditions possesse mandato dn o et trade. Rather, they were designed to entice the Indians to journey to the posts at baysidee th .