The 355-year-old Hudson’s Bay Company, whose roots go back to fur trading, is on the verge of bankruptcy.
For the next couple weeks in our local history feature, Karen Bachmann will discuss fur trading in our region, as it began in the 17th century.
Before lumber and minerals, fur was the most important business. Bachmann says by the end of the French régime in Canada, there were two companies working here.
“There was the Hudson’s Bay fur trade company who did the work with the English,” says Bachmann, “and there was la Compagnie de l’Ouest, which did a lot of work with the French. One was working the Mattagami system, the other one was working the Nighthawk system.”
The British dominated the Nighthawk system, while, as its name suggests, the other company worked the Mattagami.
“So they would set up their fur trade posts and one would set it up a little bit further down the river,” says local historian Bachmann, “to cut the other guys off, because they were dealing, naturally, with the Indigenous people of this area.”
Next week: Other fur trading groups and where they established operations further out in our region.
