Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VII.djvu/547

 FUR 535 nopoly of all trade in these regions, and this was the origin of the Hudson bay company. The territory they claimed extended from Hud- son bay west to the Pacific, and north to the Arctic ocean, excepting that occupied by the French and Russians. They soon formed set- tlements upon the rivers which empty into Hudson bay, and carried on their operations with great vigor and success. The company continued to prosper notwithstanding the per- sistent opposition of the French. Their forts or factories were extended further into the in- terior of British America ; and their power was supreme throughout the country, and in great measure over the Indians whom they employed to collect the skins. Still their charter had never been ratified by act of par- liament. In 1749 a question arose in parlia- ment respecting their rights, which was de- cided in their favor. But the Canadians or- ganized a company in the latter part of the last century, composed of some of the chief merchants of Canada, under the name of the northwest company. Their headquarters were in Montreal, and their operations were carried on with great energy in the interior, extending to the rivers that Sow into the Pacific, where they established factories about the year 1805. The annual meetings of the active partners were held at Fort William at the mouth of Pigeon river, on the N. shore of Lake Superior. The company thus soon became a formidable competitor with the Hudson bay company for the furs of these regions. In 1813 they ac- quired possession of Astoria on the Columbia, the settlement having been sold to them by Mr. Astor's partners in consequence of the war between the United States and Great Britain. The two companies were afterward involved for two years in actual war. In 1821 they united in one company, called the Hudson bay company, with the privileges of the old company extended by act of parliament over all the territory occupied by both. The li- cense granted on May 30, 1838, for 21 years, expired in 1859. Formerly the company pos- sessed large establishments scattered from Labrador to the Pacific, and from the north- ern boundaries of Canada to the Arctic ocean, which are of no value for any other purpose. In 1863 the proprietors sold the controlling in- terest in the company to a n@w body of pro- prietors, who in reorganizing increased the capital stock from 500,000 to 2,000,000, and elected Sir Edmund Head, who had been governor general of Canada, governor, and Sir Curtis Lampson, an American long resident in England, as deputy governor. The new organ- ization, after protracted negotiation with the governments of Great Britain and Canada, transferred to the latter in 1869 almost the whole of their territorial rights, embracing an area nearly equal to that of the 13 original states of the American Union, for 300,000, reserving only a limited area in the vicinity of each fort or station. In 1870 a long pending dispute be- tween the United States and the Hudson bay company, growing out of the claims of settlers in Oregon, Puget sound, &c., was settled by a commission sitting in Washington, awarding to the Hudson bay company $600,000. The charter of the company having expired with all its rights of jurisdiction and territorial pow- ers, it is now simply a trading company. The furs collected are sold at the great semi-annual sales of the company in London. Until within a recent date the mode of conducting these sales was at auction " by the candle." A pin having been stuck into a lighted candle, the bidding was continued until the pin fell in con- sequence of the approach of the flame, and the highest bidder before the fall of the pin was declared the purchaser. The importance of the fur trade led to the early settlement of the western territories of the United States. The first organization for carrying it on was that commissioned in 1762 by M. d'Abadie, director general of Louisiana, made up by merchants of New Orleans, under the title of Pierre Li- gueste Lac'lede, Antoine Maxan, and co. La- clede, the principal projector, conducted the expedition to St. Genevieve, Mo., arriving there Nov. 3, 1763. The same year he selected for the site of his establishment the spot now oc- cupied by the city of St. Louis, and then gave it that name. The place soon became of simi- lar importance to Mackinaw and Montreal. The brothers Auguste and Pierre Chouteau were of his party ; and they, with Pierre, son of the latter, became identified with the fur trade. (See CHOUTEAU.) In 1859 Martin Bates of New York and Francis Bates of St. Louis became the successors of Pierre Chouteau, jr., and still continue in the trade. The vast Indian territories bordering the great tributa- ries of the Missouri and the Mississippi opened a boundless and almost unexplored field for the operations of the fur traders. The Rocky mountains served only for a time as a barrier to their explorations, their trading posts, be- fore ten years of the present century had elapsed, being established on Lewis and Colum- bia rivers. The furs, collected by long and tedious navigation in canoes and Mackinaw boats from the most distant sources, were brought down the dangerous rapids of the streams, and packed upon the backs of men around falls, and past the shoals which the hardiest voyageurs might not navigate. Their market was then reached by another voyage of several months to New Orleans, where they were exchanged for a return freight of groce- ries ; or to the great trading post of Mackinaw, whence the voyageurs went back with English goods. For 40 years preceding 1847 the an- nual value of the trade to St. Louis is supposed to have been between $200,000 and $300,000, and the latter half of this term much more than the larger sum named; but it was of still greatei importance in developing the resources of the wild territories west of the Mississippi, and opening these to the settlement of civilized