The Trading Room at a Hudson's Bay Post.
CHAPTER XXXVI.
1821-1871.
The Company still King in the North-West—Its Forts Described—Fort Garry—Fort Vancouver—Franklin—Walla Walla—Yukon—Kamloops—Samuel Black—Mountain House—Fort Pitt—Policy of the Great Company.
The Company, in yielding the sovereignty of the Great North-West to Canada, was still a king, though crown and sceptre had been taken from it. Its commercial ascendancy was no whit injured; it is still one of the greatest corporations and the greatest fur company in the world. But new interests have arisen; its pristine pride, splendour and dignity, would now be out of place. The old lion has been shorn of its mane, and his roar is now no longer heard in the Great North-West. It no longer crouches in the path of progress determined to sell dearly the smallest sacrifice of its ancient rights and privileges; it is ready to co-operate with the settler and explorer, and all its whilom enemies.
Canada's debt to the Company.
Yet, since 1871, its history has not been without many stirring passages. Its long record of steady work, enterprise, and endurance, has never been greater. Its commanding influence with the Indians, and with a large number of the colonists, has enabled it to assist the authorities in many ways and often in forwarding the public interests, suppressing disorder and securing the good-will of the Red men who inhabit Canada. The Great Dominion owes much to the Great Company.
The posts of the Company reach from the stern coasts of Labrador to the frontiers of Alaska, and throughout this enormous region it yet controls the traffic with the aborigines. To-day there are one hundred and twenty-six posts at which this active trade is conducted, besides those numerous wintering stations or outposts, which migrate according to circumstances and mercantile conditions.
York Factory. Arrival of Hudson's Bay Co.'s Ship.
(By permission, from "Picturesque Canada.")