Fur Trading Exploitation and Colonization

 

 

Fur trading commerce served as the first massive European effort to exploit Native Americans and colonize their land holdings while subjecting them to starvation, disease, alcoholism and other genocidal acts. The forest Indians who lived around the Great Lakes and Canada became heavily dependent on the fur trade. The main goal of early tribal communities, before the onslaught of European interlopers, was survival, often in environments which consisted of harsh climate. Legends foretell how the Indian people and animals had a cohesive relationship based on mutual respect until the white men descended in droves. After the European invasion, wild game became over hunted which threatened the Native Americans’ survival and destroyed the relationship between Native Americans and animals, a relationship based on reciprocity and respect. Native Americans only hunted when it was necessary before the invasion of white settlers. Europeans also introduced murder, betrayal, and everything evil that existed in white society to the Native Americans as a result of the fur trading exploitation and colonization. 

Commercial fur trade began with early contact between the indigenous population and the European fishermen. While the fishermen netted cod in Newfoundland and Quebec, Native Americans traded mink and other small animal pelts for knives, other iron products and cloth with the fishermen. The trade, haphazard at best, continued until around the middle to late sixteenth century when the wearing of beaver hats became the new fashion trend for Europeans in Europe. The earliest French explorer to work with Native Americans regarding fur trading was Jacques Cartier in the 1530s. He traveled the St. Lawrence River and Gulf of St. Lawrence areas. During the 1580s, French trading companies were set up in the region of what was later referred to as New France. The demand for beaver furs led to extensive trapping of the furry animals by Native Americans during the harshness of northern winters when the fur was the thickest. From 1634 to 1850 the fur trade was a prominent business and control of such trade started with the French, British and Scotts. Many battles were fought over the fur-trading business, especially when the animals sought became vastly depleted in specific locations (Conlan, 1994).

Moving from a bartering system to a market economy was difficult for the Native American people. Many were confused about this concept. Bartering was something they practiced and was a form of transaction in which goods or services were exchanged for other goods or services without mediums of exchange such as money. Native Americans believed in the concept of reciprocity.

 

The Indian people demanded to trade for items such as guns and unfortunately rum and brandy. Liquor became one of the main trade items used to numb the pain. The European invasion caused a lot of stress ad anguish for the Native Americans. Many of the fur traders were of a rough sort, drank plenty and defied the laws of a civil society. Others delved into the wilderness to barter with the Indian people, adopt their ways and marry Native American women. Many Europeans wanted a piece of the lucrative market while fur trading ended up being the only source of income for the Native Americans.

They did not at first perceive trade as posing any danger to their independence and means of self-sufficiency. However, they became reliant on trade with the Europeans. The fur trade industry was also dependent on the labor provided by the Indian people. Before the introduction of the fur trade, the Indian people used approximately 30 beavers a year for food and robes. A vast amount of time was spent hunting, and preparing pelts to be traded. The fur trade led to further exploration of the Great Lakes region which enhanced animosity between France and Britain (Johnston, 1971).

 

French frontiersmen were referred to as coureurs de bois or forest runners. Another name given to these brave men was voyageurs who were referred to as canoeists or travelers. The reduction of the beaver population forced the coureurs de bois to go further into the interior of Canada. These canoeists wore brightly woven sashes, deer-skin leggings, and moccasins. On colder days they wore a capote or blanket coat. They were readily recognizable and stood apart from other men. Voyageurs and coureurs de bois were short and wiry, on average five-foot-six in height.  Despite their smaller stature, they were amazingly strong and had inexhaustible stamina. Trading partnerships with the native peoples expanded and it became possible to stay through the winter. Owners of the fur trade companies and their employees who lived in the interior of Canada all year became known as “winterers.”

These rugged individuals had to withstand the elements of harsh weather, and life-threatening obstacles such as hostile Indians, competing fur-traders, starvation and wild animals. Sometimes they had to portage their canoes, supplies, and packs of fur. They were expected to carry a pack of furs that weighed up to 90 pounds sometimes for great distances. Their daily routines consisted of paddling, hauling, and portaging for approximately 16 hours and then they would collapse from exhaustion. At night they slept by some small or large body of water with a gun by their side. Their coverings would be a blanket and perhaps some brush to add cushion to the hard surface of the ground. Samuel de Champlain relied on these durable men to help him with his fur trading business ventures (Johnston, 1971).    

            Indigenous warriors watched as Champlain and eight other men docked on Sunday, July 3, 1608 in Canada. They survived the first winter and a treaty between the North American Indians and French provide unity. Champlain and his comrades joined forces to defeat Iroquois intruders in a battle near Lake Champlain. A repeat victory in 1610 sealed the relationship with allied tribes. The fur trade between the French and Indians increased considerably. The fur trade took a turn for the worse in 1611. France’s sponsorship of New France colony ceased. Champlain did not give up. He persuaded Louis XIII to become involved and as a result the king made Champlain the commandant of New France.

Champlain embarked to the Ottawa River to restore the fur trade and then he traveled to Lake Huron where the Indian chiefs convinced him to lead a war party against a village south of Lake Ontario. He ended up suffering from serious wounds and spent the winter at the Huron-Algonquin warriors’ encampment. Champlain’s authority over New France was reaffirmed in 1620, but the king did not want him to conduct further exploration. He was to stay put and handle administrative tasks (Ritchie, N.D.).

 

            Money was to be made in the fur trade. Adult beavers averaged about 50 pounds, were plentiful (about 60 million) and somewhat easy to catch. The fabric produced by the beaver pelts provided warmth and beauty and was in great demand by European men and women of the upper classes. Fur coats, muffs, wraps, gloves, fur-trimmed garments and beaver hats (most prominent item) served the fashion sense of the time. Europeans wanted beaver hats and such while tribal people wanted iron pots and tools. These demands fostered the fur trade.

            The fur trade between Native Americans and Europeans thrived, especially concerning beaver. Beaver fur served as the most important animal fur in Canadian history because it consisted of long barbs at the tip of each strand of fur in the soft underside which made it ideal for felt. The making of felt transferred the animal fur into a soft, pliable, water-resistant material which was sought after to wear in cold and wet weather by the well to do Europeans (Wilson, 2013).

           

            Battles between many of the Northern Indians and Iroquois continued. The weapons of the Indians consisted of clubs, stone axes and bows and arrows before the arrival of the European. Tomahawks came later after contact with the Europeans. Some of the warriors wore wicker and slat armor covered rawhide to protect themselves from bone and stone pointed arrows which did not work well to shield from bullets and balls from muzzle-loading guns.

            Neither the European or Native American sides had efficient military strategies and organization. Uncooperating warriors and soldiers fled from conflict whenever they felt compelled to leave battles. No penalty transpired as a result of their insolence. They only lost some public prestige. Defense of their encampments was considered loose to non-existent. Close contests may have continued indefinitely if the Iroquois had not received more firearms and ammunition from the British and Dutch than the Hurons received from the French fur traders near the lower St. Lawrence River.

            If the two parties (Europeans and Native Americans) wanted furs, they discovered they had to fight. The Iroquois did not have kind regard for any white people including the British but decided to pick sides with the British when the French and English fought, as they frequently did (Wilson, 2013).

 

            The Jesuits arrived at New France in 1625 and followed the fur traders wherever they went. They wanted to save the Indian people by converting them to Christianity and the fur traders wanted to obtain furs from them at the smallest cost possible. The fur traders were considered a bad influence on the naive tribal people because many Indian people fell to the abyss of alcohol consumption which damaged their relationships and their health. The influence of alcohol had served as a detriment for Native Americans throughout history because they used liquor to deaden the pain of losing their culture, their land and their tribal communities (Conlan,1994).

 

            The French government left colonizing to the fur traders. The traders concentrated on the financial returns in furs and farming which left little time or effort to help the colony expand into a growing community. Although Quebec was founded in 1608, it remained a struggling little fur trading post with a few individuals residing on the premises. Colonization lagged behind because unlike England, France sent only a few settlers to Canada. French fur traders made it a habit to marry Indian women to expand their knowledge about important information such as survival in the harsh climate and cement their associations with Indian communities.

In 1627, Cardinal Richelieu, who was an advisor to Louis XIII, formed the Company of One Hundred Associates at New France.  One of the goals of this company was to gather investors to provide an income for New France by promising land parcels. French aspirations in this newly founded territory were the expansion of the mercantile and agriculture business. Another mission of the company was to expand the fur trade with the Indians. New France encompassed what is present-day Quebec, Nova Scotia and another large section of the eastern portion of Canada. However, Richelieu’s grand plan encompassed all lands between present-day Florida and the Arctic Circle. The Company of One Hundred Associates was given the cartel in trade except in the cod and whaling industry, which was awarded to other European countries (Wilson, 2013).

To help expand the French territories, Champlain mentored Entienne Brule, and sent him to explore much of the region around the St. Lawrence River and beyond.  Brule was credited with being one of the first Europeans to discover the area referred to as Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. He also befriended some of the members of the Huron tribe, learned their language and served as an interpreter during trading expeditions between the French and Huron Indians. Brule went against his country in 1629 when he guided an English military group down the St. Lawrence River and aided their successful takeover of Quebec City. Champlain was angry and wanted Brule punished for his actions. Brule continued to live with the Huron Indians hiding from retribution until he was captured by the Seneca Iroquois in battle. When he returned home to the Hurons, they didn’t believe his story and murdered him.

In 1628, England and France were at war again. Due to the exhaustion of their food and gun powder supply, Champlain had to surrender the fort. However, he did not abandon his colony. Champlain was taken prisoner by the British. He argued that the surrender occurred after the end of the war. The colony was restored to France. In 1633, he returned to Quebec with  more settlers. Champlain rebuilt the fort he originally built 25 years earlier (Wilson, 2013).

                       

Additional explorers such as Chouart, Nicolet, Groseilliers, Radisson and La Salle opened the way in Canada and Michigan for other explorers and fur trade entrepreneurs. Chouart and Groseilliers spent the winter of 1659-60 at Sault Ste. Marie in the current state of Michigan (Johnston, 1971). In October of 1666, Groseilliers and Radisson (brothers-in-law) informed King Charles II of England about the large amount of beaver west of New France. They were asked why they did not inform King Louis XIV of France and they told him they informed the New France’s governor, Pierre de Boyer D’Argenson, and instead of being rewarded they were arrested and fined for traveling without the governor’s permission and abandoning their post. After they served their sentences, they travelled to New England. English officers encouraged them to take their information to Charles II.

Charles II backed their expedition when they journeyed to Hudson Bay in northern Canada in 1668. Grosseilliers and Radisson sailed in two ships. Grosseilliers made it to James Bay’s southern shores but Radission’s ship was damaged by a storm and he had to head back to England. Grosseilliers traded with the Cree and he confirmed that beaver was plentiful. This confirmation later led to the establishment of the Hudson Bay Company’s charter. In addition to the discovery of beaver, the king and other investors were hopeful they would discover other natural resources such as gold and silver. Investors and explorers also sought the discovery of the Northwest Passage. On May 2, 1670, the British imperial ventured to establish a legal monopoly concerning the fur trade and wanted to prevent others from doing the same (Gismondi, 2020).

A charter, granted by the British Crown, formed the Hudson’s Bay Company in 1670. The company operated from posts along the coast of Hudson Bay for approximately 100 years. During the booming fur trading years, the demand for fur hats increased the pressure for fur traders to up their game.

            “The main cause of the rising beaver pelt prices in England and France was the increasing demand for hats made from beaver pelts, which included hats made exclusively with beaver wool and referred to as ‘beaver hat,’ and those hats containing a combination of beaver and a lower cost wool, such as rabbit. These were called the ‘felt hat.’ Unfortunately, aggregate consumption series for the eighteenth century for Europe are not available. We do, however, have Gregory King’s contemporary work for England which provides a good starting point… King calculated that consumption of all types of hats was 3.3 million, or nearly one hat per person. King also included a second category, caps of all sorts, for which he estimated consumption at 1.6 million” (Harte, 1991, pg. 293). The potential market as early as 1700 for England alone was nearly 5 million per year which was dependent on population growth (Carlos and Lewis, 2008).

To get an idea of how much beaver pelts were worth at the trading posts, in 1784 the Hudson Bay Company (HBC) prepared a “Table of Equivalents” which listed the number of beavers required to trade for various items. Throughout history prices have gone up, not down, for items purchased in stores. It would be safe to note that it would have taken many more beavers to get the same wares during the early 1800s. In 1784, the following table was used to place a value on specific items, a concept that was foreign to the Indian people.

 

·         1 Beaver = 9 Arrow Heads

·         1 Beaver = 1 yard of cloth

·         4 Beavers = 1 gallon of brandy

·         11 Beavers = 1 gun

·         1 Beaver = ¾ pounds of beads

(Brazer, 1993)

 

            Traders waited for the Indian trappers and their middlemen to bring them furs which were exchanged for goods. The furs were then transferred to Europe. The middle men, who collected the furs from the Native Americans and brought them to the European traders, were linked to the spread of deadly diseases because of their connection to the European settlers. Europeans introduced an advanced spread of diseases such as smallpox and tuberculosis. Native Americans did not immunity to the various diseases. Disease, the politics of starvation (overhunting of game and other attempts), and the loss of traditional Native American cultures led to the demise of almost entirely to entirely decimated communities. For example, in Saskatchewan disease annihilated the people of Basquia and Pegogamaw Cree. Elders, who held important positions of carrying on the traditional knowledge were especially susceptible to diseases (Daschuk, 2013).

 

During the middle of June in 1671 a Pageant was held in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan by French dignitaries. Simon Francois Daumont, Sieur de St. Lusson, coordinated the expedition to the Jesuit mission. Nicolas Perrot from Wisconsin and Louis Jolliet served instrumentally in the undertaking of the event. Northern tribes of the upper Great Lakes attended: Menominee, Potawotami, and Sauk Indians. Sieur de Lusson declared the annexation of the region and all lands not discovered in the name of the “Most High, Most Mighty and Most Redoubtable Monarch Louis the XIV of the Name, Most Christian King of France and Navarre” (Kellogg, 1917, para. 3). The French King and his contemporaries felt urged to come forward and claim the vast continent in the name of France after hearing about the British efforts concerning the fur trading business. Annexation papers were completed and signed by all the white men in attendance. (Kellogg, 1917). 

             From 1670 to 1870, the British sought after marriages of the fur traders to Native American women. This practice aided the trader’s knowledge of Indian life and cemented the traders’ association with Native American communities. By the end of the 18^th century, the practice of HBC employees marrying Indian women was widely practiced. Some British traders treated their Indigenous wives with the utmost respect while others were cruel. The crown did not protect the tribal women after their British spouses’ career in HBC ended. They were left to take care of themselves when their spouses returned to England. They could not remain on Rupert’s Land (Wilson, 2013).

 

“Rupert’s Land was a vast territory of northern wilderness. It represented a third of what is now Canada. From 1670 to 1870, it was the exclusive commercial domain of the Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) and the primary trapping grounds of the fur trade. The territory was named after Prince Rupert, the HBC’s first governor. Three years after Confederation, the Government of Canada acquired Rupert’s Land from the HBC for $1.5-million. It is the largest real estate transaction (by land area) in the country’s history. The purchase of Rupert’s Land transformed Canada geographically. It changed from a modest country in the northeast of the continent into an expansive one that reached across North America. Rupert’s Land was eventually divided among Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and the Northwest Territories” (Andrew, 2019, para. 1).

 

Racist attitudes towards the Indian people gained momentum during the mid-1800s. HBC officials became more comfortable with living in the region and relied less on the Native American’s knowledge. Simpson, a British born settler decided Indigenous people needed to be ruled with an iron fist and be in complete subordination. He did father children with Indigenous women. However, he married his British-born cousin, Francis in 1830. Simpson’s beliefs and actions started the beginning of the end of the marrying Native American women. The exploitation of Indian people continued through acts of the takeover of Native American land through various treaties. Many Native American nations became angered towards HBC employees and officials. In 1870, Canada purchased Rupert’s Land from HBC. This purchase represented the end of HBC and the beginning of modern-day Canada (Wilson, 2013).

 

            The HBC was not without its competition. The fur trade served as an essential economic component for Canada. The fall of New France in 1763 led French fur traders to work with British and Anglo-American businessmen stationed in Montreal. A number of small trading companies were established. They were conducting a thriving trade business with the Indian people in the upper Great Lakes area and adjoining regions to the west. In an attempt to control the competition and raise capital, the small companies joined together to form the North West Company (NWC) on April 24^, 1779.

The Frobisher brothers, Joseph and Benjamin, and Simon McTavish turned a company that was not on solid ground into a strong coalition. The firm of Gregory, McLeod and Company joined the coalition and by 1795 the North West Company had control of almost 80% of the northern fur trade. HBC was the company’s chief rival. The salt-water port at the middle of the northern continent gave HBC the advantage over the Montreal based company. The difficulty involved the long overland journey from Montreal to the Northwest. It took approximately six additional months to complete the transfer of product from Montreal to Europe than it did for HBC. Various routes to quicken the process were explored to no avail.

Competition increased between HBC and NWC and the animosity reached a new level of intensity in 1812. HBC settled a group of Scottish farmers at Red River (currently Manitoba area). The newly establish colony came under bitter opposition from the Indigenous people and the Metis (half Native American and half European) whose homeland they took over. The tension between the two companies resulted in the Battle of Seven Oaks in 1816 ended with the death of 21 settlers by Metis hunters who worked for NWC. An angered Lord Selkirk, captured Fort William which led to a lot of violence and legal fees which alarmed the HBC and NWC. After years of feuding and the depletion of NWC’s resources, NWC merged with HBC in 1821 (Morrison, 2015). Before the merge of both companies, they feared the encroachment of the Americans and continued to fear Americans after the merger.

 

            John Jacob Astor established the American Fur Company in 1808 and sought to achieve dominance over the Fur trade of the northern United States. He saw the competition grow between the Canadian monopolies. The aforementioned companies encouraged traders from the St. Lawrence River to expand their business to encompass their territory below the Canadian border.

            During Lewis and Clark exploration between 2805 and 2806, they discovered a portage from the upper Missouri to the waters of the Columbia. Lewis informed President Jefferson about the upper Missouri area which “is richer in Beaver and otter than any other country on earth” (Lavender 1966, para. 4).  Jefferson commended Astor concerning his business plans but Astor felt he would not receive federal support. National sovereignty had not been achieved for Oregon. Astor worried about the murderous competition of the North West Company when he witnessed their ruthlessness beyond the Rockies against other fur companies.

            The Napoleonic Wars reduced the price of deer, muskrat, and raccoon pelts while the cost of shipping necessary trade items rose substantially. The American government tried to undermine the friendship between the British fur traders with the Indians. Canadian traders supplied more alcohol to the Native Americans to increase the amount of fur skins obtained from them which included furs promised to other winterers. At the same time, Tecumseh’s confederation kept many Native American hunters from their hunting grounds. Many circumstances were getting in the way of Astor accomplishing his goal of starting a successful fur company (Lavender, 1966).

            In 1810 Astor established the Pacific Fur Company as a secondary company to profit from the fur trade with China. The Astoria post, located at the mouth of the Columbia River in the Oregon Territory, was vanquished during the war of 1812 which ended the Pacific Northwest company (The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica, 2020.). Astor, forced to sell the fur company to the British, established the Southwest Fur Company which joined business ventures with his American Fur Company. The Southwest Fur Company, American Fur Company and the Michilimackinac Company (a north Michigan company) served as partners and joint stockholders.

            Astor attempted to buy into the Missouri Fur Company of Manuel Lisa. The war interfered with the transaction but this worked to Astor’s advantage. By 1817, Astor bought out his partners and mastered control of the Mississippi Valley posts. The Southwest Fur Company served as the Northern Department of the American Fur Company. The American Fur Company took over the Rocky Mountain Fur Company. The introduction of the steamboats significantly increased the trade traffic. Astor managed to reach conglomerate status with the fur trade in the United States.

A distinctive characteristic of fur trading companies was their demonstration of lawlessness, a lack of moral codes which included arrogance that led to ignoring regulations because they were considered inconvenient. Company administrative managers did not know about the misconduct of their traders and winterers. They did not pay attention to prohibitions against trapping on Indian lands. The employment of foreign boatmen, permitted by law, gave Astor and Stone (another fur trading company owner) a loophole in employing foreign winterers and on their financial records they were referred to as boatmen. Another infraction involved liquor. More furs were obtained from the Indian men by the use of liquor. The company management did not authorize the use of liquor but again the administration, quite unaware of the misconduct, did not catch the infractions. However, their employees, ordered to use sharp trading techniques to obtain the product and profits, utilized whatever methods that would give them the highest return. Native Americans paid dearly as a result of their business practices.

            The days of the booming fur trade were coming to an end. Astor sold the American Fur Company at a time when he made profits and dividends of over $1 million. He was the first millionaire in the United States. Crooks and his associates centered the company’s operations to the area of Detroit, the Ohio River, and the Red River of the North. They operated vessels on the Great Lakes and fisheries were established. The American Fur Trading Company failed in 1842 and was completely dissolved in 1845 (Berry, 1961). They also tapped into the indigenous fish supply.    

             

The fur-trading business ended up being catastrophic for the Indian people. Not only was the beaver population depleted, the population of the native people was decreased considerably by the ravages of traders’ diseases to which they had no immunity. Smallpox was the number one killer, with measles, scarlet fever, diphtheria, typhus, whooping cough, and influenza following suit. The introduction of alcohol as a bargaining tool was devastating to the tribal communities. To make matters and even more confusing, European men married Indian women, which created a large number of “mixed-bloods” or “half-breeds.” These individuals did not belong fully in any distinct camp, European or Native American. Also, the fur trade created an upheaval of tribal communities as they fought one another and joined forces with European allies to gain control of land bases and its resources (Johnson, 1971).  They became dependent on fur trading to support their communities. Fur trading greatly altered the lives of the Native Americans as a result of the onslaught of a multitude of Europeans invading their land to satisfy the whims of the Europeans.

The stories of the Native American people, who turned their lives over to enterprises such as the American Fur Company and Hudson Bay Company, were filled with financial loss and other hardships. Governmental officials joined in the effort of eradicating the “Indian Problem.” To appease the Americans, Jefferson decided to set up the Indian people to turn over their land holdings by using a market economy. More and more white settlers were moving to this country and used more of the land’s rich resources. Trading posts were put up in various locations which enticed the Indian people to get their needs met and at the same time accumulate debt of which they had no means of paying back. They ended up giving up large portions of the land they lived on. The Native Americans faced the likelihood of starving if they did not depend on the trading posts for food because they were either depressed, saddled with alcoholism and/or the wild game they relied on for food was over hunted by the white settlers. They were in a dire situation due to the onslaught of Anglo-invaders (Ambrose, 1996).