Part 36 (1/2)
This is Billy Diamond country, and it is he, as Grand Chief of the Cree, and not some Company functionary, who reigns supreme.
It was at Cape Dorset that the artist James Houston spent a decade introducing the Inuit to print-making. I had always been mystified by how such luminous artistry could flourish in a climate that a Company trader once described as being so cold that ”people are born with jumper cables as umbilical cords.” Houston, who had 598 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS'.
learned the graceful alchemy of print-making in j.a.pan, inspired the local stone carvers to try this new art form, which quickly brought the best of them world fame. I remembered Houstons wonderful story about the time he gathered his artists for an early-morning pep-talk because he wanted them not only to produce prints of great originality but to make enough money to support their families in what was then a cashless society. He made his point by slapping down several dollar bills on the print-room table. ”When I returned to the shop late that night,” he told me, ”I found one of our most talented print-makers just completing a stone-cut of his version of a Canadian dollar bil L He had cut it oversize, he said, to increase its value.”
The going rate for marijuana joints at Broughton Island is fifty dollars, and the market is brisk. The HBC used to buy 30,000 sealskins a season here, but Brigitte Bardot's protests killed all that. The only remaining cash crop was selling hunting tags to American tourists who wanted to shoot polar bears; the local quota was twentytwo tags, and they fetched $3,000 each. When I cornered an Inuk and asked how fair the HBCs prices really were, he was lost for an answer because there was no alternative outlet to match quotes against. Head lettuce was selling at $2.98, which didn't seem unreasonable. One of the minor ironies of the Arctic these days is that it's the visitors who wear the furs while the Inuit keep warm in army-surplus down-filled parkas. Dog teams have all but disappeared; teenaged Inuit with mirror sungla.s.ses race their snowmobiles in endless circuits of the settlement's one street.
Resolute Bay, Canada's second-most-northern community, had lost its horizon when I arrived; the sky was the same pitted-pewter hue as the land. Hugging the 74th parallel and about a thousand miles from the North Pole, Resolute has the worst climate and the worst economy in ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 599.
Canada. I couldn't interview Mayor George Eckalook because he was busy. One of the few people with a job, he was driving the settlement's only garbage truck. The place was dotted with snowmobile skeletons and boarded-up houses, including a complex of Ottawasponsored apartment buildings that had to be abandoned because the plumbing was embedded in the north wall, where it froze for good. An earlier bureaucratic initiative moved Inuit families here from Port Harrison and Pond Inlet. They were told the hunting would be better, but n.o.body notified the animals. The Resolute Inuit are proud and independent. In 1982, when the Bay store burned to the ground and its credit records were destroyed in the blaze, within hours, every Inuk at Resolute had reported his or her outstanding credit to the local manager. A quick check with head office confirmed that the total tallied precisely with the Company's figures.
HAVING COME To THE END of the nearly ten years devoted to this three-volume study of the Hudson's Bay Company, I find myself surrounded by literary debts. The half-million words contained in Company ofAdventurers (1985), Caesars of the Wilderness (1987) and Merchant Princes (1991)-plus the ill.u.s.trated Empire of the Bay (1989)-were my own, but their inspiration sprang from many sources.
My prime obligation is to the five hundred or so men and women I interviewed about the HBC. Most of these resource people are listed in the appendices of the three books. I have donated the tapes and transcripts of the interviews to the Provincial Archives of Manitoba in Winnipeg, where, after a decent interval, they will be publicly available. At the same time, I'm grateful to the Company's current owners and executives for allowing me unrestricted access to archives and files without demanding even a glance at my ma.n.u.script.
600 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.
These books could never have been written without the inspired determination of s.h.i.+rlee Smith, who until recently was head of the IIBC Archives in Winnipeg. She not only encouraged the idea of a popular history of the FIBC but her personal readings of my chapters proved invaluable. Anne Morton of' the Archives has also been treinendously helpful. John de B. Pavne, a former f IBC executive and political alchemist, was of immense a.s.sistance.
I have greatly benefited from generous professional advice and personal support of such distinguished scholars as Tim Ball, Abe Potstein, Blair Stonechild, Alan Wilson, Hartwell Bowsfield, W. Kave Lamb, John S.
Galbraith and the late Richard Glover. They and others encouraged this project because they understood what I was trying to accomplish and subscribed to my notion that truth is not necessarily the sum of all the ascertainable facts.
The preparation of the sections ofthis book dealing with the North was greatly a.s.sisted by the wisdom of Stu Hodgson, the former C ommissioner of the Northwest Territories, NIVT cabinet ministers Nellie Cournoyea and Gordon -Wray, Senator Willie Adams and Peter Ernerk. Their advice was particularly appreciated. Janet Craig and Martin Lynch, who have edited all mv books, performed their usual magic, bravely attempting to make my overheated prose more comprehensible. George Whitman and the late Al Hochbauni became my friends during the research for these volumes. Their grace and kindness, their sharing of perceptions and knowledge made it worthwhile. I regret that Sir William ”Tony” Keswick pa.s.sed away before this volume was publishe~.
Thanks go also to Cynthia Good, publisher at Penguin Canada, whose dedication and contribution to this series I gratefully acknowledge; Mary Adachl, for her fabulous copy editing; Kathryn Dean, for choosing ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 601.
and captioning the books' ill.u.s.trations; Chris Blackburn, for compiling the Index and the Chronology of the present volume; Neil West and Jim Gordon, for their conscientious word processing; Hilda Earl, for a.s.sistance with the Chapter Notes, Bibliography and Resource People; and, above all, Pat Harding, my loyal and indefatigable a.s.sistant, for putting up with me, co-ordinafing my untidy life as well as my hectic work schedule. As always, a salute to the bravura Artistry in Rhythm of Stan Kenton, who kept me alive and kicking.
When I started work on Company of Adventurers, it seemed like an uncomplicated excursion into Canadian history. Now, so many words and years later, I leave the project, happy to have resurrected, however briefly, many heroes and villains whose existence had too long been ignored by Canadians convinced their country's history is dull.
It isn't, and it never was. Trying to re-create 32 0 years of history has been a tough a.s.signment; attempting, as I have, to write it in the manner of an itinerant story-teller has been harder still. It is done as well as I could do it.
This book owes its existence to many people; the responsibility for its many imperfections is fully my own.
Cordova Bay and Deep Cove, B.C. P.C.N.
August 1, 1987-August 1, 1991 APPENDICES.
Chronology
1867 compensate HBC Chief Factors British North America Act and ChiefTraders: in return for provides for the admission of a settlement, the officers agree Rupert's Land and the North to give up any share of future West Territories to the new land-sales profits. British Confederation.Columbia joins Confederation on the promise of a railway link 1869 with eastern Canada. Smith Donald A, Smith is in charge of recommends the use of steam the Labrador and Montreal (its- boats to improve HBC trans tricts of the Hudson's Bay Com- portation.
pany. The Canadian government agrees to purchase Rupert's 1873 Land from the Company. Smith's vote is crucial in ”Pacific William McDougall is appointed Scandal” debate: he goes against Lieutenant-Governor of Macdonald's government, which Rupert's Land and the North resigns. Formation of the North West Territories, but is refused West Mounted Police. Red entry to Red River by a National River incorporated as Winnipeg.
Committee of the M&is, object ing to sale of the HBCs lands, 1874 without their consent. Rt. Hon. George Goschen appointed Governor of HBC.
1870 Smith elected a Liberal M.P.
M6tis under Louis Riel meet to discuss the proposals from 1875 Ottawa brought to Red River by Federal government begins con Donald A. Smith. The Manitoba struction of Pacific Railways.
Act, forming the new province of Manitoba and including pro- 1876-1878 visions for M6tis rights, is pa.s.sedRecession leads to a decline in by the Canadian government. HBC share values. No dividends Smith is elected to the Manitoba paid in 1877 or 1878, legislature. 1879 1871Smith and partners form the St Donald Smith gains a seat in Paul, Minneapolis and Manitoba the House of Commons. He Railwa~ As the link with Win negotiates new Deed Poll to nipeg is completed, the line gains
602.
APPENDIX ONE 603.
a temporary monopoly on west- 1891 ern Canadian freight. Smith Beginning of three-year reces resigns as HBC Land Commis- sion. HBC reorganizes and sioner but continues to buy pushes land sales.
stock.
1893.
1880 Deed Poll extinguished: HBC Eden Colvile appointed HBC officers now receive only a salary.
Governor. Main Canadian office 1894 moved from Montreal to Win- Hislop and Nagle open Arctic nipeg. Land boom in Winnipeg posts.
over next three years. CPR syn dicate is formed and signs con- 1896 tract with government. IiBC stores and land sales develop, lessening importance of 1881fur trade. Smith appointed High HBC opens retail store in Win- Commissioner for Canada.
nipeg. Simpsons moves to Queen Street location in 1897 Toronto.Old North West Territories achieve responsible government.
1883HBC establishes stores in Yukon Smith elected to HBC Board as to supply prospectors. Donald major shareholder. Smith becomes Lord Strathcona and Mount Royal. Red River 1885 flood. Queen Victoria's Dia North West Rebellion tinder mondjubilee is celebrated.
Louis Riel. Last spike of the CPR is driven. 1898 Yukon becomes a separate terri 1886tory, with its own government.
Smith knighted. 1899 1887Revillon, furrier from France, HBC retail store opens in Van- competes with HBC in Hudson couver. Smith returns to federal Bay and Northwest.
parliament as a Tory. Bislop and 1900 Nagle fur company creates com- job Bros. opens fis.h.i.+ng station pet.i.tion with HBC. in Labrador (later bought out by NBC). Furs are in fas.h.i.+on in 1889Europe. Many Inuit succ.u.mb to Donald Smith appointL-d disease.
Governor of HBC, serving until 1914. HBC co-operates with 1901 CPR and government to pro- Marconi sends first wireless sig mote prairie settlement. nals across the Atlantic, opening 604 APPENDIX ONE.
access for independent fur 1910 traders to latest market informa-Stockholders' group challenges tion. Compet.i.tion continue,, Strathcona's control over the from Hislop and Nagle and Board, and wins significant from Revillon.influence. The HBC is divided into three departments: land, 1902stores and furs. Expansion of The Boer War ends. British vic- department stores in western tors helped by Strathcona's gift cities begins.
of a regiment of roughriders. 1911 1903First HBC post established on Alaska Boundary Dispute, aad Baffin Island; Chesterfield Inlet establishment of the Alaska- post opened. Northern Trading Canada boundarv~ HBC com- Compan~ established, in compe plains about U.S'. whalers t.i.tion with IIBC and Revillon.
trading with Canadian Inuit. Strathcona commissions con Amundsen begins his voyage struction of Nascopie.