North West Company - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

For the grocery chain, see The North West Company
The North West Company
The North West Company is a grocery and merchandise store in remote communities across northern Canada and Alaska. Through its subsidiary, Cost-U-Less stores it also operates in the US territories of Guam, The CNMI, and American Samoa and in the Caribbean....

.

The North West Company was a fur trading business headquartered in Montreal from 1779 to 1821. It competed with increasing success against the Hudson's Bay Company

Hudson's Bay Company

The Hudson's Bay Company , abbreviated HBC, or "The Bay" is the oldest commercial corporation in North America and one of the oldest in the world. A fur trading business for much of its existence, today Hudson's Bay Company owns and operates retail stores throughout Canada...

in what was to become Western Canada

Western Canada

Western Canada, also referred to as the Western provinces and commonly as the West, is a region of Canada that includes the four provinces west of the province of Ontario.- Provinces :...

. With great wealth at stake, tensions between the companies increased to the point where several minor armed skirmishes broke out, and the two companies were forced to merge.

Beginnings

There are historical references to a North West Company as early as 1770, involving the Montreal-based traders Benjamin Frobisher

Benjamin Frobisher

Benjamin Frobisher was born in England, the son of Joseph Frobisher and Rachel Hargrave and immigrated to Canada about 1763...

, Isaac Todd

Isaac Todd

Isaac Todd was a merchant of Montreal was involved in the re-establishment of the fur trade after the Conquest of Canada....

, and others, but the standard histories trace the Company to a 16-share organization formed in 1779. For the next four years, it was little more than a loose association of a few Montreal merchants who discussed how they might break the stranglehold the Hudson's Bay Company

Hudson's Bay Company

held on the North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

n fur trade. In the winter of 1783-84, the North West Company was officially created on a long-term basis, with its corporate offices on Vaudreuil Street in Montreal. It was led by businessmen Benjamin Frobisher

Benjamin Frobisher

Benjamin Frobisher was born in England, the son of Joseph Frobisher and Rachel Hargrave and immigrated to Canada about 1763...

, his brother Joseph

Joseph Frobisher

Joseph Frobisher was a fur trader and political figure in Lower Canada.He was born in Halifax, England in 1740 and came to Quebec with his brother Benjamin around 1763; their brother Thomas joined them around 1769...

, and Simon McTavish

Simon McTavish

Simon McTavish was a Scots-Quebecer entrepreneur and the pre-eminent businessman in Canada during the second half of the 18th century.-Biography:...

, along with investor-partners who included Robert Grant, Nicholas Montour

Nicholas Montour

Nicholas Montour was a fur trader, seigneur and political figure in Lower Canada.He was born in the province of New York in 1756, the son of Andrew Montour and Sarah Ainse, and the grandson of Madame Montour...

, Patrick Small, William Holmes and George McBeath

George McBeath

George McBeath was a fur trader, businessman and political figure in Lower Canada.He was born in Scotland around 1740 and came to Quebec around 1760. McBeath entered the fur trade in 1765, travelling to the Lake Superior region. In 1772, he became part of a company based at Michilimackinac...

In 1787 the North West Company merged with a rival organization, Gregory, McLeod and Co., which brought several more able partners in, including John Gregory

John Gregory

John Charles Gregory is an English former footballer and currently works as a manager. He has previously managed: Portsmouth, Plymouth Argyle, Wycombe Wanderers, Aston Villa, Derby County, Queens Park Rangers, Maccabi Ahi Nazareth and F.C. Ashdod...

, Alexander Mackenzie, and his cousin Roderick Mackenzie. The 1787 Company consisted of twenty shares, some held by the so-called agents at Montreal, and others by wintering partners, who spent the trading season in the fur country and oversaw the trade with the aboriginal peoples there. The wintering partners and the Montreal agents met each July at the Company's depot at Grand Portage on Lake Superior, later moved to Fort William

Fort William

Fort William may refer to:In Canada:*Fort William, Ontario, a Canadian city which, together with Port Arthur, became part of Thunder Bay in 1970**Fort William , a related Canadian federal electoral district...

. Also under the auspices of the Company, Alexander Mackenzie conducted two important expeditions of exploration. In 1789, he descended the Grand River (now called the Mackenzie River

Mackenzie River

The Mackenzie River is the largest river system in Canada. It flows through a vast, isolated region of forest and tundra entirely within the country's Northwest Territories, although its many tributaries reach into four other Canadian provinces and territories...

) to the Arctic Ocean, and in 1793 he went overland from Peace River

Peace River (Canada)

The Peace River is a river in Canada that originates in the Rocky Mountains of northern British Columbia and flows to the northeast through northern Alberta. The Peace River flows into the Slave River, a tributary of the Mackenzie River. The Mackenzie is the 12th longest river in the world,...

to the Pacific Ocean Further explorations were performed by David Thompson

David Thompson (explorer)

David Thompson was an English-Canadian fur trader, surveyor, and map-maker, known to some native peoples as "Koo-Koo-Sint" or "the Stargazer"...

, starting in 1797, and later by Simon Fraser

Simon Fraser (explorer)

Simon Fraser was a fur trader and an explorer who charted much of what is now the Canadian province of British Columbia. Fraser was employed by the Montreal-based North West Company. By 1805, he had been put in charge of all the company's operations west of the Rocky Mountains...

. These men pushed into the wilderness territories of the Rocky Mountains

Rocky Mountains

The Rocky Mountains are a major mountain range in western North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch more than from the northernmost part of British Columbia, in western Canada, to New Mexico, in the southwestern United States...

and all the way to the Gulf of Georgia on the Pacific Coast

Pacific Coast

A country's Pacific coast is the part of its coast bordering the Pacific Ocean.-The Americas:Countries on the western side of the Americas have a Pacific coast as their western border.* Geography of Canada* Geography of Chile* Geography of Colombia...

Frobisher-McTavish deal

The death of Benjamin Frobisher opened the door to a takeover of the North West Company by Simon McTavish, who made a deal with Frobisher's surviving brother Joseph. The firm of McTavish, Frobisher and Company, founded in November 1787, effectively controlled eleven of the company’s twenty outstanding shares. At the time the company consisted of 23 partners, but "its staff of Agents, factors, clerks, guides, interpreters, more commonly known today as voyageurs amounted to 2000 people." In addition to Alexander Mackenzie, this group included Americans

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

Peter Pond

Peter Pond was born in Milford, Connecticut. He was a soldier with a Connecticut regiment, a fur trader, a founding member of the North West Company, an explorer and a cartographer.-Biography:...

and Alexander Henry

Alexander Henry (the younger)

Alexander Henry was a Canadian fur trader and explorer employed by the North West Company. He is well known for his extensive journals which he started in 1799. They contain an excellent record from the early 19th century of the fur trade. Alexander travelled and traded extensively from Lake...

. Further reorganizations of the partnership occurred in 1795 and 1802, the shares being subdivided each time to provide for more and more wintering partners.

Vertical integration of the business was completed in 1792, when Simon McTavish and John Fraser formed a London house to supply trade goods and market the furs, McTavish, Fraser and Company. While the organization and capitalization of the North West Company came from Anglo-Quebecers, both Simon McTavish and Joseph Frobisher married French Canadian

French Canadian

French Canadian or Francophone Canadian, , generally refers to the descendents of French colonists who arrived in New France in the 17th and 18th centuries...

s. Numerous French Canadians played key roles in the operations both in the building, management, and shareholding of the various trading posts scattered throughout the country, as well numbering among the voyageurs involved in the actual trading with natives.

In the northwest, the Company expanded its operations as far north as Great Bear Lake, and westwards beyond the Rocky Mountains. For several years, they tried to sell furs directly to China

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

, using American ships to avoid the British East India Company's monopoly, but little profit was made there. The company also expanded into the American Northwest Territory

Northwest Territory

The Territory Northwest of the River Ohio, more commonly known as the Northwest Territory, was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from July 13, 1787, until March 1, 1803, when the southeastern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the state of Ohio...

. In 1796, to better position themselves in the increasingly global market, where politics played a major role, the North West Company briefly established an agency in New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

.

Despite its efforts, the North West Company was at a distinct disadvantage in competing for furs with the Hudson's Bay Company, whose charter gave it a virtual monopoly in Rupert's Land

Rupert's Land

Rupert's Land, or Prince Rupert's Land, was a territory in British North America, consisting of the Hudson Bay drainage basin that was nominally owned by the Hudson's Bay Company for 200 years from 1670 to 1870, although numerous aboriginal groups lived in the same territory and disputed the...

, where the best furs came from. The company tried to persuade the British Parliament to change arrangements, at least so the North West Company could obtain transit rights to ship goods to the west needed for trading for furs. It is said that Simon McTavish made a personal petition to Prime Minister William Pitt

William Pitt the Younger

William Pitt the Younger was a British politician of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. He became the youngest Prime Minister in 1783 at the age of 24 . He left office in 1801, but was Prime Minister again from 1804 until his death in 1806...

, but all requests were refused.

A few years later, with no relief to the Hudson's Bay Company's stranglehold, McTavish and his group decided to gamble. They organized an overland expedition from Montreal to James Bay

James Bay

James Bay is a large body of water on the southern end of Hudson Bay in Canada. Both bodies of water extend from the Arctic Ocean. James Bay borders the provinces of Quebec and Ontario; islands within the bay are part of Nunavut...

and a second expedition by sea. In September 1803, the overland party met the company's ship at Charlton Island

Charlton Island

Charlton Island is an uninhabited island located in James Bay, Qikiqtaaluk Region, Nunavut, Canada. Located at 52°00'N 79°30'W it has an area of .....

in what is now Nunavut

Nunavut

Nunavut is the largest and newest federal territory of Canada; it was separated officially from the Northwest Territories on April 1, 1999, via the Nunavut Act and the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement Act, though the actual boundaries had been established in 1993...

Territory. There, they lay claim to the region, inhabited by the Inuit

Inuit

The Inuit are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic regions of Canada , Denmark , Russia and the United States . Inuit means “the people” in the Inuktitut language...

, in the name of the North West Company. This bold move caught the Hudson's Bay Company off guard. In succeeding years it retaliated rather than reaching a compromise, which McTavish had hoped might be negotiated.

Late 18th/early 19th century

Simon McTavish brought several members of his family into the company, but nepotism took a back seat to ability. His brother-in-law, Charles Chaboillez, oversaw the Lower Red River trading post. McTavish also hired several cousins and his nephews William McGillivray

William McGillivray

William McGillivray was a Scotland-born fur trader and political figure in Lower Canada.He was born in Dunlichity, Scotland in 1764. In 1784, he travelled to Montreal with his uncle Simon McTavish and began work with the North West Company...

and Duncan McGillivray

Duncan McGillivray

Duncan McGillivray , born in Inverness-shire, Scotland, was an explorer and fur trader who accompanied David Thompson on explorations of the North-West Territory and the Canadian Rockies. In 1800, they reached what is now Banff National Park...

to learn the business. William McGillivray was groomed by his uncle to succeed him as Director of the North West Company, and by 1796 he had effectively done so, acting as Montreal agents' representative at the annual meetings at Grand Portage, and later at Fort William.

Simon McTavish was an aggressive businessman who understood that powerful forces in the business world were always ready to pounce on any weakness. As such, his ambition and forceful positions caused disagreements between him and some of the shareholders, several of whom eventually left the North West Company during the 1790s. Some of these dissidents formed their own company, known unofficially as the "XY Company", allegedly because of the mark they used on their bales of furs. Their cause was greatly strengthened in 1799, when the North West Company's hero explorer, Alexander Mackenzie, quit his old partnership and soon after joined them.

There was intense competition between the rivals. When Simon McTavish died on July 6, 1804, the new head William McGillivray set out to put an end to the four years' rivalry. It had escalated to a point where the master of the North West Company post at Great Bear Lake

Great Bear Lake

Great Bear Lake is the largest lake entirely within Canada , the third or fourth largest in North America, and the seventh or eighth largest in the world...

had been shot by an XY Company employee during a quarrel. McGillivray was successful in putting together an agreement with the XY Company in 1804. It stipulated that the old North West Company partners held 75 per cent of the shares, and the former XY Company partners the remaining 25 per cent. Alexander Mackenzie was excluded from the new joint partnership.

Under William McGillivray, the Company continued to expand, and apparently to profit, during the first decade of the 19th century. Competition with the Hudson's Bay Company was intense, however, and profit margins were squeezed. The North West Company branch in New York City had allowed the Canadians to get around the British East India Company's

British East India Company

The East India Company was an early English joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China...

monopoly and ship furs to the Chinese market. Cargo ships owned by the North West Company conveniently sailed under the American flag, and doing so meant continued collaboration with John Jacob Astor

John Jacob Astor

John Jacob Astor , born Johann Jakob Astor, was a German-American business magnate and investor who was the first prominent member of the Astor family and the first multi-millionaire in the United States...

.

However, Astor was as aggressive as Simon McTavish had been. An intense rivalry soon developed between him and William McGillivray over the Oriental market and westerly expansion to unclaimed territory in what is now the Columbia River basin

Columbia Basin

The Columbia Basin, the drainage basin of the Columbia River, occupies a large area–about —of the Pacific Northwest region of North America. In common usage, the term often refers to a smaller area, generally the portion of the drainage basin that lies within eastern Washington.Usage of the term...

, in the present-day states of Washington and Oregon

Oregon

Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...

. Astoria's Pacific Fur Company

Pacific Fur Company

The Pacific Fur Company was founded June 23, 1810, in New York City. Half of the stock of the company was held by the American Fur Company, owned exclusively by John Jacob Astor, and Astor provided all of the capital for the enterprise. The other half of the stock was ascribed to working partners...

beat the North West Company in an effort to found a post near the mouth of the Columbia, Fort Astoria

Fort Astoria

Fort Astoria was the Pacific Fur Company's primary fur trading post in the Northwest, and was the first American-owned settlement on the Pacific coast. After a short two-year term of US ownership, the British owned and operated it for 33 years. It was the first British port on the Pacific coast...

. A collapse in the sea otter population and the imminent possibility of British seizure of Astoria during the War of 1812

War of 1812

The War of 1812 was a military conflict fought between the forces of the United States of America and those of the British Empire. The Americans declared war in 1812 for several reasons, including trade restrictions because of Britain's ongoing war with France, impressment of American merchant...

led to its sale to the North West Company in 1813, resulting in an awkward situation when HMS Racoon

HMS Racoon (1808)

HMS Racoon, sometimes spelled HMS Raccoon, was an 18-gun ship sloop of the Cormorant Class of the Royal Navy. She was built by John Preston, of Great Yarmouth, and launched on 30 March 1808.-Service:...

and its Captain Black arrived and went through a ceremony of possession, even though the fort was already ostensibly a British possession. Due to treaty complications of the Treaty of Ghent

Treaty of Ghent

The Treaty of Ghent , signed on 24 December 1814, in Ghent , was the peace treaty that ended the War of 1812 between the United States of America and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland...

requiring the return of seized assets, putative ownership of the site was returned to the United States in 1817, although the fort, renamed Fort George by the North West Company, continued to operate until the Hudson's Bay Company's takeover and the replacement of Fort Astoria by Fort Vancouver

Fort Vancouver

Fort Vancouver was a 19th century fur trading outpost along the Columbia River that served as the headquarters of the Hudson's Bay Company in the company's Columbia District...

.

The Canadian fur trade began to change in 1806, after Napoleon Bonaparte ordered the blockade of the Baltic Sea

Baltic Sea

The Baltic Sea is a brackish mediterranean sea located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 20°E to 26°E longitude. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Europe, and the Danish islands. It drains into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund, the Great Belt and...

as part of the ongoing struggle between France and Britain for world dominance. Britain was dependent for almost all of its timber on the Baltic countries and on New Hampshire and Massachusetts. By then, however, tensions had also begun to escalate again between Britain and America, and in 1809 the American Government passed the Non-Intercourse Act, which effectively brought about an almost complete cessation of trade between the two countries. Britain then found itself totally dependent on her Canadian colony for its timber needs, especially the great white pine used for ships' masts. Almost overnight, timber and wood products replaced fur as Canada's number one export. Fur remained profitable, however, as it had a high value-to-bulk ratio, and in an economy short of ready money, fur was routinely used by Canadian merchants to remit value to their London creditors.

Forced merger

By another crisis hit the fur industry, brought on by the over-harvesting of animals, the beaver

Beaver

The beaver is a primarily nocturnal, large, semi-aquatic rodent. Castor includes two extant species, North American Beaver and Eurasian Beaver . Beavers are known for building dams, canals, and lodges . They are the second-largest rodent in the world...

in particular. The destruction of the North West Company post at Sault Ste. Marie

Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario

Sault Ste. Marie is a city on the St. Marys River in Algoma District, Ontario, Canada. It is the third largest city in Northern Ontario, after Sudbury and Thunder Bay, with a population of 74,948. The community was founded as a French religious mission: Sault either means "jump" or "rapids" in...

by the Americans during the War of 1812

War of 1812

was a serious blow during an already difficult time. All these events only intensified competition, and when Thomas Douglas

Thomas Douglas, 5th Earl of Selkirk

Thomas Douglas, 5th Earl of Selkirk was a Scottish peer. He was born at Saint Mary's Isle, Kirkcudbrightshire, Scotland. He was noteworthy as a Scottish philanthropist who sponsored immigrant settlements in Canada at the Red River Colony.- Early background :Douglas was the seventh son of Dunbar...

convinced his fellow shareholders in the Hudson's Bay Company to grant him the Selkirk Concession

Selkirk Concession

The Selkirk Concession was a land grant issued by the Hudson's Bay Company to Thomas Douglas, 5th Earl of Selkirk in 1811. The land grant included the portions of Rupert's Land or the watershed of Hudson Bay bounded to the north-east by the Rainy River, Lake of the Woods, Winnipeg River and Lake...

it marked another in a series of events that would lead to the demise of the North West Company. The Pemmican Proclamation, the ensuing Battle of Seven Oaks

Battle of Seven Oaks (1816)

The Battle of Seven Oaks took place on June 19, 1816, during the long dispute between the Hudson's Bay Company and the North West Company, rival fur-trading companies in western Canada.-Background:Miles Macdonell had issued the Pemmican Proclamation...

in 1816, and its violence, resulted in Lord Selkirk arresting William McGillivray and several North West Company proprietors, seizing their outpost property in Fort William

Fort William, Ontario

Fort William was a city in Northern Ontario, located on the Kaministiquia River, at its entrance to Lake Superior. It amalgamated with Port Arthur and the townships of Neebing and McIntyre to form the city of Thunder Bay in January 1970. Ever since then it has been the largest city in Northwestern...

and charging them with responsibility for the deaths of twenty-one people at Seven Oaks. Although this matter was resolved by the authorities in Montreal, over the next few years some of the wealthiest and most capable partners began to leave the company, fearful of its future viability. The form of nepotism within the company too had changed, from the strict values of Simon McTavish to something that now was harming the business in both its costs and morale of others.

By 1820, the company was issuing coinage, each coin representing the value of one beaver pelt. However, the continued existence of the North West Company was in great doubt, and shareholders had no choice but to agree to a merger with their hated rival after Henry Bathurst

Henry Bathurst, 3rd Earl Bathurst

Henry Bathurst, 3rd Earl Bathurst KG PC was a British politician.-Background and education:Lord Bathurst was the elder son of Henry Bathurst, 2nd Earl Bathurst, by his wife Tryphena, daughter of Thomas Scawen...

, the Secretary of State for War and the Colonies

Secretary of State for War and the Colonies

The Secretary of State for War and the Colonies was a British cabinet level position responsible for the army and the British colonies . The Department was created in 1801...

, ordered the companies to cease hostilities. In July 1821, under more pressure from the British government, which passed new regulations governing the fur trade in British North America, a merger agreement was signed with the Hudson's Bay Company, whereby the North West Company name disappeared after more than forty years in existence. At the time of the merger, the amalgamated company consisted of 97 trading posts that had belonged to the North West Company and 76 that belonged to the Hudson's Bay Company. George Simpson

George Simpson (administrator)

Sir George Simpson was a Scots-Quebecer and employee of the Hudson's Bay Company . His title was Governor-in-Chief of Rupert's Land and administrator over the Northwest Territories and Columbia Department in British North America from 1821 to 1860.-Early years:George Simpson was born in Dingwall,...

(1787–1860), the Hudson's Bay Company Governor-in-Chief of Rupert's Land

Rupert's Land

who became the Canadian head of the northern division of the greatly enlarged business, made his headquarters in the Montreal suburb of Lachine

Lachine, Quebec

Lachine was a city on the Island of Montreal in southwestern Quebec, Canada. It is now a borough within the city of Montreal.-History:...

Revival

In 1990 the northern trading posts of the Hudson's Bay Company were sold to an employee consortium, which revived the name The North West Company

The North West Company

The North West Company is a grocery and merchandise store in remote communities across northern Canada and Alaska. Through its subsidiary, Cost-U-Less stores it also operates in the US territories of Guam, The CNMI, and American Samoa and in the Caribbean....

Personnel

Beyond the non-operating investors, these were some of the post proprietors, clerks, interpreters, explorers and others of the nearly 2,500 employed by the North West Company in 1799:

Athabaska (Fort George
Prince George, British Columbia
Prince George, with a population of 71,030 , is the largest city in northern British Columbia, Canada, and is known as "BC's Northern Capital"...

, Fort McLeod
McLeod Lake, British Columbia
McLeod Lake is an unincorporated community located on Highway 97 in northern British Columbia, Canada, north of Prince George. It is notable for being the first continuously inhabited European settlement established west of the Rocky Mountains in present-day Canada...

, Fort St. James
Fort St. James, British Columbia
Fort St. James is a district municipality and former fur trading post in north-central British Columbia, Canada. It is located on the south-eastern shore of Stuart Lake in the Omineca Country, at the northern terminus of Highway 27, which connects to Highway 16 at Vanderhoof...

, Rocky Mountain Portage
Hudson's Hope, British Columbia
Hudson's Hope is a district municipality in northeastern British Columbia, Canada, in the Peace River Regional District. It covers an area of with a population of 1,157 people. Having been first settled in 1805, it is the third oldest community in the province, although it was not incorporated...

):
- John Finlay (proprietor), Simon Fraser
  Simon Fraser (explorer)
  Simon Fraser was a fur trader and an explorer who charted much of what is now the Canadian province of British Columbia. Fraser was employed by the Montreal-based North West Company. By 1805, he had been put in charge of all the company's operations west of the Rocky Mountains...
  
  , Alexander MacKenzie, Duncan Livingston, John Stuart
  John Stuart
  John Stuart may refer to:*Sir John Stuart, 4th Baronet , MP for Kincardineshire*John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute , Prime Minister of Great Britain from 1762–1763...
  
  , James Porter, John Thompson, James McDougall
  James McDougall (explorer)
  James McDougall was a nineteenth century fur trader and explorer, who is remembered for his participation in opening up present-day British Columbia, Canada to European settlement as part of a North West Company expedition to the region, led by Simon Fraser....
  
  , G. F. Wintzel, John Heinbrucks;

Upper English River:
- Angus Shaw
  Angus Shaw
  Angus Shaw was a fur trader and political figure in Lower Canada.-Life:He was probably born in Scotland and came to North America some time before 1786, when he is found at Montreal. With the help of the Indian agent Colonel John Campbell of Glendaruel, he entered a partnership with an...
  
  (proprietor), Donald MacTavish (proprietor), Alexander MacKay, Antoine Tourangeau, Joseph Cartier, Simon Réaume;

Lower English River:
- Alexander Fraser (proprietor), John MacGillivray, Robert Henry, Louis Versailles, Charles Messier, Pierre Hurteau;

Fort Dauphin
Fort Dauphin (Canada)
Fort Dauphin, was built in 1741 near Winnipegosis, Manitoba with Pierre Gaultier de La Vérendrye, the western military commander, directing construction. The area provided a post located between the Assiniboine River and the Saskatchewan River...

:
- A. N. McLeod (proprietor), Hugh McGillis, Michel Allary, Alexander Farguson, Edward Harrison, Joseph Grenon, François Nolin, Nicholas Montour;

Upper Fort des Prairies and Rocky Mountains:
- Daniel Mackenzie (proprietor), John MacDonald (proprietor), James Hughes, Louis Châtellain, James King, François Décoigne, Pierre Charette, Pierre Jérôme, Baptiste Bruno, David Thompson, J. Duncan Campbell, Alexander Stewart, Jacques Raphael, Francois Deschamps;

Lower Fort des Prairies:
- Pierre Belleau, Baptiste Roy, J. B. Filande, Baptiste Larose;

Upper Red River
Grand Forks, North Dakota
Grand Forks is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of North Dakota and the county seat of Grand Forks County. According to the 2010 census, the city's population was 52,838, while that of the city and surrounding metropolitan area was 98,461...

:
- John Macdonell (proprietor), George MacKay, J. Macdonell, Jr., Joseph Auger, Pierre Falcon, François Mallette, William Munro, André Poitvin;

Lower Red River:
- Charles Chaboillez (proprietor), Alexander Henry, J. B. Desmarais, Francois Coleret, Antoine Déjarlet, Louis Giboche;

Lac Winipic:
- William MacKay (proprietor), John Cameron, Donald MacIntosh, Benjamin Frobisher, Jacques Dupont, Joseph Laurent, Gabriel Attina, Francois Amoit;

Nipigon
- Duncan Cameron (proprietor), Ronald Cameron, Dugald Cameron, Jacques Adhémar, Jean-Baptiste Chevalier, Allen MacFarlane, Jean-Baptiste Pominville, Frederick Shults;

Pic:
- J. B. Perrault, Augustin Roy;

Michipicoten and the Bay:
- Lemaire St-Germain, Baptiste St-Germain, Léon Chênier

Sault Ste. Marie
Sault Ste. Marie
Sault Ste. Marie may refer to:* Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario , a Canadian city** Sault Ste. Marie , a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada...

and Sloop "Otter":
- John Burns, John Bennet, John Johnston
  John Johnston (fur trader)
  John Johnston was a wealthy and successful British fur trader for the North West Company at Sault Ste. Marie before the War of 1812, and a leader in the Michigan Territory. He never became a US citizen...
  
  ;

South of Lake Superior
La Pointe, Wisconsin
La Pointe is a town in Ashland County in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The town includes all of the Apostle Islands. There is also an unincorporated community named La Pointe on Madeline Island, the largest of the Apostle Islands . The population was 246 at the 2000 census...

:
- Michel Cadotte
  Michel Cadotte
  Michel Cadotte 1764-1837 or was a Métis fur trader who dominated business in the area of the south shore of Lake Superior. He gained a strategic alliance through marriage into the Owaazsii clan of the Anishinaabeg...
  
  (partner), Simeon Charrette, Charles Gauthier, Pierre Baillarge;

Fond du Lac
Duluth, Minnesota
Duluth is a port city in the U.S. state of Minnesota and is the county seat of Saint Louis County. The fourth largest city in Minnesota, Duluth had a total population of 86,265 in the 2010 census. Duluth is also the second largest city that is located on Lake Superior after Thunder Bay, Ontario,...

:
- John Sayer (proprietor), J. B. Cadotte, Charles Bousquet, Jean Coton, Ignace Chênier, Joseph Réaume, Eustache Roussin, Vincent Roy;

Lac La Pluie
Fort Frances, Ontario
Fort Frances is a town in, and the seat of, Rainy River District in Northwestern Ontario, Canada. The population as of the 2006 census was 8,103 and Fort Frances' population peaked in 1971 at 9,947...

:
- Peter Grant (proprietor), Arch. MacLellan, Charles Latour, Michel Machard;

Grand Portage
Grand Portage Indian Reservation
The Grand Portage Indian Reservation is located in Cook County near the tip of Minnesota's Arrowhead Region in the extreme northeast part of the state. The community was considered part of the Lake Superior Band of Chippewa, but is not a party to the treaties that group signed...

:
- Doctor Munro, Charles Hesse, Zacharie Clouthier, Antoine Colin, Jacques Vandreil, François Boileau, Mr. Bruce.

North West Company Post
North West Company Post
The North West Company Fur Post is a reconstructed fur trade post on the Snake River west of Pine City, Minnesota. The post was established by John Sayer, a partner in the North West Company, in the fall of 1804, and built by his crew of voyageurs. The site operated for several years, although...

, a restored post near Pine City, Minnesota
Pine City, Minnesota
Pine City is a city in Pine County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 3,123 at the 2010 census. Pine City is the county seat of, and the largest city in, Pine County...

operated as a living history
Living history
Living history is an activity that incorporates historical tools, activities and dress into an interactive presentation that seeks to give observers and participants a sense of stepping back in time. Although it does not necessarily seek to reenact a specific event in history, living history is...

museum by the Minnesota Historical Society
Minnesota Historical Society
The Minnesota Historical Society is a private, non-profit educational and cultural institution dedicated to preserving the history of the U.S. state of Minnesota. It was founded by the territorial legislature in 1849, almost a decade before statehood. The Society is named in the Minnesota...
The North West Company
The North West Company
The North West Company is a grocery and merchandise store in remote communities across northern Canada and Alaska. Through its subsidiary, Cost-U-Less stores it also operates in the US territories of Guam, The CNMI, and American Samoa and in the Caribbean....

, the restored company.
Voyageurs
Voyageurs
The Voyageurs were the persons who engaged in the transportation of furs by canoe during the fur trade era. Voyageur is a French word which literally translates to "traveler"...
Coureur des bois
Coureur des bois
A coureur des bois or coureur de bois was an independent entrepreneurial French-Canadian woodsman who traveled in New France and the interior of North America. They travelled in the woods to trade various things for fur....
Fur trade
Fur trade
The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of world market for in the early modern period furs of boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals have been the most valued...
Rupert's Land
Rupert's Land
Rupert's Land, or Prince Rupert's Land, was a territory in British North America, consisting of the Hudson Bay drainage basin that was nominally owned by the Hudson's Bay Company for 200 years from 1670 to 1870, although numerous aboriginal groups lived in the same territory and disputed the...
North-Western Territory
North-Western Territory
The North-Western Territory was a region of British North America until 1870. Named for where it lay in relation to Rupert's Land, the territory at its greatest extent covered what is now Yukon, mainland Northwest Territories, northwestern mainland Nunavut, northwestern Saskatchewan, northern...

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