A Comparison of the Hudson’s Bay Company and the North
West Company
 In the 17th century the French had a
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monopoly on the fur trade.
Two French traders, Radisson and
Groseilliers, learned from the Cree
that the Hudson Bay was home to
the best fur.
At first they sought French support
to set up a trading post on the Bay
but they were turned down by
Colbert, the newly appointed French
Secretary of State.
Radisson and Groseilliers
approached a group of businessmen
in Boston, Massachusetts to help
finance their trading post.
The business men agreed and took
Radisson and Des Groseilliers to
England to obtain financing.
 A Royal Charter from King
Charles II in 1670 granted the
HBC a monopoly over the fur
trade in the area known as
Rupert’s Land.
 The company founded its first
headquarters at Fort Nelson
which is now in present-day
Manitoba.
 Other posts were established
around the southern edge of
Hudson Bay in MB, ON, and QB.
 These posts were called
“Factories” because a Factor (a
person acting as a mercantile
agent) did business there.
 The HBC built trading posts at the
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mouths of rivers emptying into
the Hudson Bay.
They encouraged the Assiniboin,
the Cree, and the Ojibwa
trappers and traders to bring their
furs to them.
They followed this “Stay by the
Bay” policy for the next century.
First Nations traders did the
majority of the actual trapping,
traveling by canoe.
First Nations received metal tools
and hunting gear in exchange for
their pelts.
The beaver was the most prized
pelt.
A HBC post on Lake Winnipeg
c. 1884
 The HBC’s standard of trade was
very strict and there was little room
for bargaining.
 They had a very rigid hierarchy
(people in authority ranked from
top to bottom).
 The local bosses, aka the “Factors,”
were British, as were the clerks and
labourers at the posts.
 Everyone who worked for the HBC
was a salaried employee.
 Only the London partners shared in
the profits.
 The HBC shipped furs to England
every summer and received their
trade goods during this time as
well.
HBC Post at Moose Factory
 In 1783 the North West Company
(NWC) was established and the
HBC had a rival.
 Their “stay-by-the-bay” policy
was challenged as NWC posts
began to crop up in the western
and northern interior.
 First Nations trappers were more
willing to travel to these new
posts rather than make the long
journey to the Bay.
 By the end of the 1780s the HBC
had established their own
inland posts in an attempt to
gain back some of the trade that
had gone to the NWC.
North West Company Arms
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When New France fell in 1763, the French fur
trade was seized by English merchants from
Montreal.
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Benjamin and Joseph Frobisher and Simon
MacTavish, discussed how they might break
the stranglehold the HBC held on the fur
trade.
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1783 several companies merged to form the
NWC
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The NWC was a very dynamic and aggressive
operation and its structure was based on
partnerships rather than the “top-down”
approach of the HBC.
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The NWC’s Montreal partners bought trade
goods from England and arranged for the sale
and shipment of pelts.
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The hivernants (wintering partners) who
remained in the Northwest did the actual fur
trading.
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The hivernants were not salaried employees
like the HBC’s employees as they had a share in
the company’s profits.
Simon MacTavish
 Geography influenced the
NWC’s decision to build posts
inland.
 Furs had to be shipped from
Montreal to England so the
NWC established a major trade
depot at Ft. William, which was
located at the head of Lake
Superior.
 In the spring trade goods were
shipped from England to Ft.
William.
 Eventually the NWC stretched
all the way west from Ft. William
to Ft. Fraser and all the way
North to Ft. Providence.
Fort William
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The NWC was more lenient in its
trading standards than the HBC.
They were willing to negotiate prices
with First Nations trappers and they were
willing to trade alcohol for fur.
Their approach to fur trade was quite
beneficial and by 1800 the NWC had a
large network of trading posts.
The first decade of the 19th century saw
great success as the NWC expanded its
operating territory.
Competition with the HBC was intense,
however, and profits were small.
A NWC branch had been established in
New York City and this allowed them to
ship furs to China.
The War of 1812 saw the destruction of a
NWC post at Sault Sainte Marie which
resulted in a serious blow to the
company.
North West Company Token
Alexander Mackenzie
 Mackenzie was a partner in the
NWC.
 He traveled down the Fraser
river towards Prince George.
 Missed the Nechako river
entirely. Why?
 When he reached the Pacific
Ocean he wrote the following
message on a rock: “Alexander
Mackenzie, from Canada by
land, the twenty-second of July,
one thousand seven hundred
and ninety-three.“
Simon Fraser
 Like Mackenzie, Fraser was also
involved with the NWC; however, he
was the youngest partner in the
history of the NWC.
 Fraser had found out from the
Native people that the Fraser River,
could be reached by descending the
Stuart River, which drained Stuart
Lake, and then by descending the
Nechako River to its convergence
with the Fraser.
 Fraser decided to take a journey to
convergence of the Nechako and
Fraser Rivers.
 There he established a new post
named Fort George which would
become the starting point for his
trip downstream.