
Mike's Grade
4 Project
The Canadian Fur
Trade

The Early Fur
Trade
Fur trade was one of the earliest
and most important industries in North America. The fur trading
industry played a major role in the development of Canada.
The earliest fur traders in North
America were French Explorers and fishermen who arrived in what
is now Eastern Canada. Trade started after the French offered the
Indians needles, knives and other gifts. The Indians in turn gave
pelts to the French. By the late 1500's a great demand for fur
had developed in Europe. This demand encouraged further
exploration of North America. Soon ships were sailing across the
Atlantic to the shores of Hudson Bay. The men built trading
posts. At first they returned to England with the ships. Then it
was decided that the company should have men living in the posts
all year long. Each summer a ship would bring them new trade
goods and supplies and take back the furs they had gathered.
In 1608 the French Explorer Samuel
de Champlain established a trading post on the site of the
present day city of Quebec. The city became a fur trading centre.
He had early learned that to carry on his explorations
successfully, he must win the friendship of the Indians. To do
this, the Indians were treated fairly and well and they came to
respect Champlain and all the French people.

Samuel de Champlain
New France was
based upon the fur trade which Champlain had worked hard to
establish. He encouraged the coureurs de bois, young men skilled
in living among the Native peoples, to explore further west and
north. In the 1650's two of these traders Raddison and
Groseilliers were seeking a route from Lake Superior to Hudson
Bay. They hope to set up a fur trade company that would sail
directly into Hudson Bay to avoid the long journey from Quebec to
the best fur territories. They got no help from the government of
new France and so they turned to the English for help. English
came together with French fur traders to create the Hudson's Bay
Company.

Pierre Radisson

The Nor'Westers
The fur traders who went west from Montreal were
called pedlars. Most pedlars work by themselves but it was not
easy to work alone. It would be much easier some thought if they
worked together. Working together solved some of their prob lems
but sometimes a pedlar would steal another's furs or try to scare
the Indians he was trading with away. The Indians started getting
angry with the traders because they started trading them watered
down rum and stealing Indian women. Working together didn't last
long because the pedlars began quarrelling and the partners split
up.

Weapons and
Tools of the Fur Trade
Weapons and ammunition amounted for a lot of the
trade. Gunpowder was the most important of all. Twelve 50 pound
barrels of gunpowder were carried on each journey. Metal tools
and utensils such as scissors, awls, sewi ng needles, brass and
steel wire, sword blades and arrow heads were also traded.


The Fight Over
Fur
The great battle had begun. The
young and active North West Company and the powerful Hudson's Bay
Company were fighting for control over the fur trade. The
Nor'Westers played by their own rules. They were willing to do
almost anything to win the battle. The Indians would give their
furs to the trader who gave them brandy and rum. Despite the
rules against trading brandy and rum for furs the Nor'Westers did
it anyway.
The Hudson's Bay Company wanted
their traders to stay in their posts and wait for the Indians to
paddle their canoes to the Bay loaded with furs. But the men
began to realize that the pedlars and Nor'Westers were keeping
the furs from reaching the Bay so the Baymen started building
posts inland to get furs.
One of the owners of the Hudson
Bay Company brought settlers to the Red River area. The
Nor'Westers didn't like the idea of settlers coming to the area.
They thought that the settlers would keep them from trading for
furs. The Nor'Westers and Indians forced the settlers from their
homes and burned their crops and houses. The settlers kept coming
back. The Nor'Westers and Indians grew weary with the settlers and
this started the Battle of Seven Oaks in June 1816. The Battle of
Seven Oaks started other battles. The Baymen and Nor'Westers
started arresting each other and capturing each others posts. No
one could win the battle so in 1821 the two companies joined
together.

The Decline of
the Fur Trade
The fur trade started to decline in the late
1700's. The decline resulted from the clearing of large areas for
settlements. As more and more land was cleared fur bearing
animals became scarce. Over trapping of fur bearing animals hurt
the fur trade in Western Canada. In addition the value of beaver
fur dropped sharply in the 1830's when European hat makers began
to use silk instead of felt. By 1870 most fur trading activity
had ended.

The Effect of
the Fur Trade
The prospect of wealth from the fur trade
attracted many Europeans to the New World. Traders and trappers
explored much of North America in search of fur. They built
trading posts in the wilderness and settlements grew up around
many of the posts. Some of these settlements later became such
cities as Montreal, Edmonton, Quebec and Winnepeg.
Edmonton
Montreal
Quebec
Winnipeg
The fur trade led to friendly relations between
the Indians and traders but it also brought Indian hostility
towards white settlers because the clearing of land threatened
the supply of fur bearing animals.

Last updated May 9, 2002
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