Cover of The Remarkable History of the Hudson's Bay Company Including that of the French Traders of North-Western Canada and of the North-West, XY, and Astor Fur Companies — Context and Discussion

The Remarkable History of the Hudson's Bay Company Including that of the French Traders of North-Western Canada and of the North-West, XY, and Astor Fur Companies — Context and Discussion

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In Category - Modern Nations

Authors: Bryce, George, 1844-1931 Digital Source: Project Gutenberg Gutenberg Release Year: 2013 First Publication Year: Not confirmed

Key Word: Northwest, Canadian -- History; Hudson's Bay Company; North West Company; XY Company; Fur trade -- Northwest, Canadian Target Reader: Readers of public-domain and historical texts

Book Edition: Project Gutenberg digital edition Book Language: en

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Words 183,515

Reading time 798 min

Text sections 21

The catalog record for The Remarkable History of the Hudson's Bay Company Including that of the French Traders of North-Western Canada and of the North-West, XY, and Astor Fur Companies — Context and Discussion provides practical reading context through 183,515 words, 13 hr 18 min estimated reading time, and 21 detected text sections.

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Project Gutenberg metadata also associates the work with “Northwest, Canadian -- History,” connecting these edition facts with the source record’s subject description.

Source: Project Gutenberg record #44312

George Bryce's 1910 history traces the Hudson's Bay Company from its 1670 charter through the 19th century, interweaving the stories of French traders, the North West Company, and the Astor Fur Company. Drawing on official records and firsthand accounts, Bryce examines corporate rivalry, Indigenous alliances, and the 1816 Red River conflict.

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HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY FOUNDED.

Royal charters--Good Queen Bess--"So miserable a wilderness"--Courtly stockholders--Correct spelling--"The nonsense of the Charters"--Mighty rivers--Lords of the territory--To execute justice--War on infidels--Power to seize--"Skin for skin"--Friends of the Red man 12

Rich Mr. Portman--Good ship _Prince Rupert_--The early adventurers--"Book of Common Prayer"--Five forts--Voting a funeral--Worth of a beaver--To Hudson Bay and back--Selling the pelts--Bottles of sack--Fat dividends--"Victorious as Cæsar"--"Golden Fruit" 20

THREE GREAT GOVERNORS.

Men of high station--Prince Rupert primus--Prince James, "nemine contradicente"--The hero of the hour--Churchill River named--Plate of solid gold--Off to the tower 27

TWO ADROIT ADVENTURERS.

Peter Radisson and "Mr. Gooseberry" again--Radisson _v._ Gillam--Back to France--A wife's influence--Paltry vessels--Radisson's diplomacy--Deserts to England--Shameful duplicity--"A hogshead of claret"--Adventurers appreciative--Twenty-five years of Radisson's life hitherto unknown--"In a low and mean condition"--The Company in Chancery--Lucky Radisson--A Company pensioner 33

The golden lilies in danger--"To arrest Radisson"--The land called "Unknown"--A chain of claim--Imaginary pretensions--Chevalier de Troyes--The brave Lemoynes--Hudson Bay forts captured--A litigious governor--Laugh at treaties--The glory of France--Enormous claims--Consequential damages 47

The "Grand Monarque" humbled--Caught napping--The Company in peril--Glorious Utrecht--Forts restored--Damages to be considered--Commission useless 56

DREAMS OF A NORTH-WEST PASSAGE.

Stock rises--Jealousy aroused--Arthur Dobbs, Esq.--An ingenious attack--Appeal to the "Old Worthies"--Captain Christopher Middleton--Was the Company in earnest? The sloop _Furnace_--Dobbs' fierce attack--The great subscription--Independent expedition--"Henry Ellis, gentleman"--"Without success"--Dobbs' real purpose 61

THE INTERESTING BLUE-BOOK OF 1749.

"Le roi est mort"--Royalty unfavourable--Earl of Halifax--"Company asleep"--Petition to Parliament--Neglected discovery--Timidity or caution--Strong "Prince of Wales"--Increase of stock--A timid witness--Claims of discovery--To make Indians Christians--Charge of disloyalty--New Company promises largely--Result nil 70

FRENCH CANADIANS EXPLORE THE INTERIOR.

The "Western Sea"--Ardent Duluth--"Kaministiquia"--Indian boasting--Père Charlevoix--Father Gonor--The man of the hour:--Verendrye--Indian map-maker--The North Shore--A line of forts--The Assiniboine country--A notable manuscript--A marvellous journey--Glory, but not wealth--Post of the Western Sea 78

THE SCOTTISH MERCHANTS OF MONTREAL.

Unyielding old Cadot--Competition--The enterprising Henry--Leads the way--Thomas Curry--The elder Finlay--Plundering Indians--Grand Portage--A famous mart--The plucky Frobishers--The Sleeping Giant aroused--Fort Cumberland--Churchill River--Indian rising--The deadly smallpox--The whites saved 92

DISCOVERY OF THE COPPERMINE.

Samuel Hearne--"The Mungo Park of Canada"--Perouse complains--The North-West Passage--Indian guides--Two failures--Third journey successful--Smokes the calumet--Discovers Arctic Ocean--Cruelty to the Eskimos--Error in latitude--Remarkable Indian woman--Capture of Prince of Wales Fort--Criticism by Umfreville 100

FORTS ON HUDSON BAY LEFT BEHIND.

Andrew Graham's "Memo."--Prince of Wales Fort--The garrison--Trade--York Factory--Furs--Albany--Subordinate forts--Moose--Moses Norton--Cumberland House--Upper Assiniboine--Rainy Lake--Brandon House--Red River--Conflict of the Companies 109

THE NORTH-WEST COMPANY FORMED.

Hudson's Bay Company aggressive--The great McTavish--The Frobishers--Pond and Pangman dissatisfied--Gregory and McLeod--Strength of the North-West Company--Vessels to be built--New route from Lake Superior sought--Good will at times--Bloody Pond--Wider union, 1787--Fort Alexandria--Mouth of the Souris--Enormous fur trade--Wealthy Nor'-Westers--"The Haunted House" 116

VOYAGES OF SIR ALEXANDER MACKENZIE.

A young Highlander--To rival Hearne--Fort Chipewyan built--French Canadian voyageurs--Trader Leroux--Perils of the route--Post erected on Arctic Coast--Return journey--Pond's miscalculations--Hudson Bay Turner--Roderick McKenzie's hospitality--Alexander Mackenzie--Astronomy and mathematics--Winters on Peace River--Terrific journey--The Pacific Slope--Dangerous Indians--Pacific Ocean, 1793--North-West Passage by land--Great achievement--A notable book 124

THE GREAT EXPLORATION.

Grand Portage on American soil--Anxiety about the boundary--David Thompson, astronomer and surveyor--His instructions--By swift canoe--The land of beaver--A dash to the Mandans--Stone Indian House--Fixes the boundary at Pembina--Sources of the Mississippi--A marvellous explorer--Pacific Slope explored--Thompson down the Kootenay and Columbia--Fiery Simon Fraser in New Caledonia--Discovers Fraser River--Sturdy John Stuart--Thompson River--Bourgeois Quesnel--Transcontinental expeditions 133

"Le Marquis" Simon McTavish unpopular--Alexander Mackenzie, his rival--Enormous activity of the "Potties"--Why called X Y--Five rival posts at Souris--Sir Alexander, the silent partner--Old Lion of Montreal roused--"Posts of the King"--Schooner sent to Hudson Bay--Nor'-Westers erect two posts on Hudson Bay--Supreme folly--Old and new Nor'-Westers unite--List of partners 148

THE LORDS OF THE LAKES AND FORESTS.--I.

New route to Kaministiquia--Vivid sketch of Fort William--"Cantine Salope"--Lively Christmas week--The feasting partners--Ex-Governor Masson's good work--Four great Mackenzies--A literary bourgeois--Three handsome demoiselles--"The man in the moon"--Story of "Bras Croche"--Around Cape Horn--Astoria taken over--A hot-headed trader--Sad case of "Little Labrie"--Punch on New Year's Day--The heart of a "vacher" 155

THE LORDS OF THE LAKES AND FORESTS.--II.

Harmon and his book--An honest man--"Straight as an arrow"--New views--An uncouth giant--"Gaelic, English, French, and Indian oaths"--McDonnell, "Le Prêtre"--St. Andrew's Day--"Fathoms of tobacco"--Down the Assiniboine--An entertaining journal--A good editor--A too frank trader--"Gun fire ten yards away"--Herds of buffalo--Packs and pemmican--"The fourth Gospel"--Drowning of Henry--"The weather cleared up"--Lost for forty days--"Cheepe," the corpse--Larocque and the Mandans--McKenzie and his half-breed children 166

THE LORDS OF THE LAKES AND FORESTS.--III.

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George Bryce opens his history not with a corporate ledger but with a roll call of governors: Prince Rupert, James Duke of York, Lord Churchill, and Lord Strathcona. This framing signals that the Hudson's Bay Company will be treated as an imperial actor, its fortunes tied to aristocratic patrons and national ambition. The preface declares the book will cover not only the Company itself but also the French traders who 'actually surpassed the English adventurers in penetrating the vast interior'—a claim that sets up a persistent tension between English and French enterprise. Bryce, a Manitoba College professor and member of multiple learned societies, writes as a participant in the region's intellectual life, occasionally inserting personal artifacts such as 'a note-book with, in Lord Selkirk's writing, an itinerary of his journey.'

Rivalry and Violence on the Red River

The excerpts reveal a colony in crisis. Bryce recounts how in 1816 'subjects of the realm, divided into two parties, should be virtually carrying on war against each other on British soil.' The conflict between Hudson's Bay Company settlers and the North West Company's Métis allies (the 'Bois Brûlés') is documented through speeches Bryce includes from Indigenous chiefs. L'Homme Noir of the Assiniboines tells Lord Selkirk, 'we were often harassed with solicitations to assist the Bois Brûlés in what they have done against your children, but we always refused.' Grandes Oreilles, an Ojibway chief, offers a more ambiguous testimony: 'When our young men are drunk they are mad; they know not what they say or what they do; but this must not be attended to.' These passages show Bryce using direct testimony to illustrate the pressures on Indigenous communities caught between fur-trade factions.

The Charter as a Legal and Political Instrument

Bryce emphasizes the Hudson's Bay Company's original Charter as the foundation of its authority. The Company 'governed a vast domain in the northern part of the American Continent, and preserved to the British Empire the wide territory handed over to Canada in 1870.' This legal framework is contrasted with the 'daring French soldiers and explorers who disputed the claim of the Company in the seventeenth century.' The excerpts do not detail the Charter's terms, but Bryce's repeated references to 'British pluck and daring' and 'patient industry' suggest he views the Company's corporate structure as a vehicle for national expansion. The tension between monopoly rights and competitive free trade—embodied by the North West and X Y Companies—is a recurring structural theme.

Personal Artifacts and the Texture of Travel

Bryce occasionally steps back from grand narrative to offer intimate details. He mentions possessing 'a note-book with, in Lord Selkirk's writing, an itinerary of his journey from Red River Colony,' listing place names like 'Rivière Sale, Rivière Aux Gratias, Pembina' and including the entry 'lost on the Prairie.' Bryce adds, 'Every traveller over the Manitoba prairie will take a feeling interest in that entry.' Such moments ground the history in physical experience. Similarly, the account of Selkirk's final departure from the colony—'having thus restored order, infused confidence in the people, and given a certain aid to their activity'—is followed by a quiet detail: Selkirk 'hastens back to Upper Canada, without even visiting his family in Montreal, though he had been absent from them for upwards of a year.' These human touches counterbalance the book's institutional focus.

Readers should note that Bryce writes as a late-Victorian Canadian nationalist, his sympathies clearly with the Hudson's Bay Company's imperial role. The excerpts do not include his treatment of the Astor or X Y Companies, nor the full arc of the 1819 trials he calls 'The Blue-Book of 1819.' The book's value lies in its compilation of primary documents—speeches, itineraries, and official reports—woven into a narrative that reflects the author's own position as a scholar and public figure in Manitoba. Approach the text as a period piece of historical writing, rich in firsthand material but shaped by its era's assumptions.

That Bryce history stayed with me like a long winter dusk—all those rival fur traders, their grudges and fragile alliances, circling the same frozen rivers. It reminded me of something quieter I read later, A narrative of the mutiny, on board His Majesty's ship Bounty — A Reader’s Guide, where isolation also turns men inward, until loyalty becomes a strange, sharp thing.