Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 6.djvu/352

346 346 W. D. FENTON. alone. The Hudson Bay Company was the English agent arid local defender of Great Britain's claims, and the pioneers of the early forties, participated in the struggle for possession of this great domain, in the name of their kindred and country. Charles II. had chartered this com- pany in 1670, Prirfce Rupert being a charter member, from which fact the region was called "Rupert's Land," and the alleged object of the company was to discover a new pas- sage into the "South Sea." the name by which the Pacific was first known. Under the inspiration of a rival move- ment Alexander Mackenzie came from Canada over the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific, and reached its shores July 22, 1793, the last year of Washington's first term. He touched the coast at fifty-three degrees and twenty-one minutes, and was thus within the limits of what we claimed as our territory. The Hudson Bay Company was given great governmental power and its affairs were ably and prudently managed. It ruled an area of the world in these early days one third larger than modern Europe and larger than the United States. From Montreal, the seat of its power, after it absorbed the Northwest Company, to its farthest western port on Vancouver Island, was 2,500 miles, and on the north its boundaries were the limitless frozen waters. Its direct business was the fur trade on land and sea, but its indirect object was conquest for and in the name of the British flag. It cultivated the Indian tribes, and through contact with its hardy and crafty hunters, these powerful tribes were practical allies in the great struggle for territory and power. Their factors were the merchant princes of the early* days and it is recorded that from an original capital stock of $50,820 it tripled twice in fifty years from profits only, and in 1821 had a capital of $1,916,000. It is also said that in 1846, when the English government conceded our claim to Oregon, the property