Part 33 (2/2)
A strand blanket 10 do.
A white do. 8 do.
An axe of one pound weight 3 do.
Half a pint of gunpowder 1 do.
Ten b.a.l.l.s 1 do.
The princ.i.p.al profits accrued from the sale of knives, beads, flint, steels, awls and other small articles. Tobacco fetched one beaver skin per foot of ”Spencer's Twist,” and rum ”not very strong,” two beaver skins per bottle.
[80] ”What folly,” asks one of the Company's servants, ”could be more egregious than to erect a fort of such extent, strength and expense and only allow thirty-nine men to defend it?”
[81] An account of Hearne's journey was found in MS. among the papers of the Governor, and La Perouse declares in his memoirs that Hearne was very pressing that it should be returned to him as his private property. ”The goodness of La Perouse's heart induced him to yield to this urgent solicitation, and he returned the MS. to him on the express condition, however, that he should print and publish it immediately on his arrival in England.” ”Notwithstanding this,”
observes Mr. Fitzgerald, ”Hearne's travels did not appear until 1795, _i.e._, twenty-three years after they were performed.” This gentleman, so distinguished in his zeal to prove a case against the Company, evidently overlooks the circ.u.mstance of the gist of travels having been issued in pamphlet form in 1773 and again in 1778-80. The volume of 1795 was merely an application--the product of Hearne's leisure upon retirement.
CHAPTER XXVII.
1783-1800.
Disastrous Effects of the Compet.i.tion -- Montreal Merchants Combine -- The North-Westers -- Scheme of the a.s.sociation -- Alexander Mackenzie -- His two Expeditions Reach the Pacific -- Emulation Difficult -- David Thompson.
[Sidenote: Compet.i.tion of the Canadian traders.]
For many years up to 1770, before the traders from Canada had penetrated their territory, York Factory had annually sent to London at least 30,000 skins. There were rarely more than twenty-five men employed in the fort at low wages. In 1790 the Company maintained nearly one hundred men at this post, at larger wages, yet the number of skins averaged only about 20,000 from this and the other posts. The rivalry daily grew stronger and more bitter. Yet from what has been seen of the habits and character of the Canadian bushrangers and peddlers, it is almost unnecessary to say that the Company's Scotchmen ingratiated themselves more into the esteem and confidence of the Indians wherever and whenever the two rivals met. The advantage of trade, it has been well said, was on their side--because their honesty was proven. But there was another reason for the greater popularity of the Company amongst the natives, and it was that the princ.i.p.al articles of their trading goods were of a quality superior to those imported from Canada.
The extraordinary imprudence and ill-manner of life which characterized the Montreal traders continually offset the enterprise and exertions of their employers. Many of these traders had spent the greater portion of their lives on this inland service; they were devoid of every social and humane tie, slaves to the most corrupting vices, more especially drunkenness. So that it is not strange that they were held in small esteem by the Indians, who, a choice being free to them, finding themselves frequently deceived by specious promises, were not long in making up their minds with whom to deal.
”Till the year 1782,” says Mackenzie, ”the people of Athabaska sent or carried their furs regularly to Fort Churchill, and some of them have since that time repaired farther, notwithstanding they could have provided themselves with all the necessaries which they required. The difference of the price set on goods here and at the factory, made it an object with the Chippewans to undertake a journey of five or six months, in the course of which they were reduced to the most painful extremities, and often lost their lives from hunger and fatigue. At present, however, this traffic is, in a great measure, discontinued, as they were obliged to expend in the course of their journey, that very ammunition which was its most alluring object.”
[Sidenote: Montreal merchants combine.]
But the Company was now threatened with a more determined and judicious warfare by the better cla.s.s of Canadian traders. The enterprise had been checked, first by the animosity of the Indians, and at the same time by the ravages of the smallpox, but during the winter of 1783-4, the Montreal merchants resolved, for the better prosecution of their scheme, to effect a junction of interests, by forming an a.s.sociation of sixteen equal shares, without, however, depositing any capital. The scheme was to be carried out in this way: Each party was to furnish a proportion of such articles as were necessary in the trade, while the actual traders, or ”wintering partners,” of these merchants were to receive each a corresponding share of the profits. To this a.s.sociation was given, on the suggestion of Joseph Frobisher, the name of the North-West Company. The chief management of the business was entrusted to the two Frobishers and Simon McTavish, another Scotch merchant in Montreal.
In May, 1784, accordingly, Benjamin Frobisher and McTavish went to the Grand Portage with their credentials from the other partners in the new undertaking. Here they met the bulk of the traders and voyageurs, who were delighted to hear of the new scheme. These entered heartily into the spirit of the undertaking, and that spring embarked for the west with the merchandise and provisions brought them, with a lighter heart than they had known for years, and with a determination to profit by the disasters of the past. Not all of the chief traders, it must be said, cast in their lots with the new company. Two, named Pond and Pangman, opposed it; and finding a couple of merchants who were willing to furnish sufficient capital, resolved to strike out for themselves as rivals to the North-West company. This action occasioned, as might be expected, great bitterness and disorder.
Nevertheless, it was the means of bringing to light a young Scotchman from the Isles, whose name will be forever linked with the North-West.
His name was Alexander Mackenzie.
[Sidenote: Alexander Mackenzie.]
This young man had been for five years in the counting-house of Gregory, one of the merchants who had allied themselves with the two malcontents. It was now decided that Mackenzie should set out with Pond and Pangman in their separate trading venture into the distant Indian country. A more perilous business than this can scarcely be imagined. Besides the natural difficulties, the party had to encounter all the fiercest enmity and opposition of which the adherents of the new a.s.sociation were capable. It is enough to say that after a fearful struggle they forced the latter to allow them a partic.i.p.ation in the trade. But the feat which resulted in the coalition of the two interests in 1787 cost them dear. One of the partners was killed, another lamed for life, and many of their voyageurs injured. Yet the establishment thus joined, and shorn of all rivals save the Great Company, was placed on a solid basis, and the fur-trade of Canada began to a.s.sume greater proportions than it had yet done under the English _regime_. As this North-West concern was finally itself to merge into the Company of which these chapters are the history, it will not be unprofitable to glance at its const.i.tution and methods, particularly as the economic fabric was to be likewise transferred and adapted to its Hudson's Bay rival.
[Ill.u.s.tration: SIR ALEXANDER MACKENZIE.]
[Sidenote: The North-West company.]
It was then, and continued to be, merely an a.s.sociation of merchants agreeing among themselves to carry on the fur-trade by itself, although many of these merchants plied other commerce. ”It may be said,” observes Mackenzie, ”to have been supported entirely on credit; for whether the capital belonged to the proprietor, or was borrowed, it equally bore interest, for which the a.s.sociation was annually accountable.” The company comprised twenty shares unequally divided and amongst the parties concerned. ”Of these a certain proportion was held by the people who managed the business in Canada and were styled agents for the company. Their duty was to import the necessary goods from England, store them at their own expense at Montreal, get them made up into articles suited to the trade, pack and forward them and supply the cash that might be wanting for the outfits.” For all this they received, besides the profit on their shares, an annual commission on the business done. A settlement took place each year, two of the partners going to Grand Portage to supervise affairs of that growing centre, now outrivalling Detroit, Michilimackinac and Sault Ste. Marie. The furs were seen safely to the company's warehouse in Montreal, where they were stored pending their s.h.i.+pment to England.
This cla.s.s were denominated agents for the concern.
<script>