1. Changes in the Northwest
Much change.

2. A Quick Review of the Fur Trade
Competition!!
HBC settled in the Hudson’s Bay area
NWC settled along the St. Lawrence river and Montreal
Traded heavily with the Huron and Cree people
Scottish merchants in Montreal created the North West Company (NWC) in Montreal

3. A Bitter Rivalry 1790s
NWC relied on pushing further west in order to get fur (created some of the first settlements out west)
Competition become intense and sometimes violent
Destroying each other’s boats
Bribes for rival’s First Nation’s people

4. Thomas Douglas, Fifth Earl of Selkirk
Son of a rich landowner
Daddy died, brother died, Selkirk got a ton of land and a huge fortune
He provided poor Scottish farmers with homes and land.
Solution was to also buy land in the Red River Valley
Selkirk tried to buy a chunk of land from HBC but they refused (wanted monopoly)
Selkirk then bought shares in HBC to gain influence within the company, then he bought hectares of land
Became known as the Selkirk Concession or Assiniboia

5. Look Familiar?

8. Set up by the North West Company
Fort Gibraltar
Set up by the North West Company
Created right underneath the nose of Fort Douglas (Owned by HBC)
Destroyed in 1816 but was recreated a year later

9. Fort Garry Established fort in 1822 Central building for the HBC
1869: The fort was surrendered to the NW trade company
1870: Fort was seized by Louis Riel
Winnipeg continued to grow around it and the name disappeared
Now used as street, business, and hotel names

10. Assiniboia’s Population Mix
Selkirk hired Miles MacDonell (Scottish born North American) to arrange for immigrants to come to the colony
The 1st group arrives in 1812 (36 Scottish and Irish workers)
They spent the first 2 winters at the HBC post at Pembina, ill equipped for the rugged landscape and harsh winters
They were assisted byChief Peguis’s Saulteax People and the Metis
They gave them food and helped them adapt
Without this help, few would have survived
The settlement grew slowly as immigrants from Scotland and Ireland arrived

11. Unwanted Guests
The new Scottish immigrants attempted to build relationships with both the HBC and the NWC
NWC was not welcoming because they thought that the settles were all in support of the HBC (Remember, Selkirk bought land from them)
Needed to try and build relations with First Nations to help them survive
Aboriginals may have been apprehensive because their last experience with Europeans was not ideal

12. The Metis People
The Metis culture was originally a result of the fur trade (French fur traders & First Nations)
Most Metis men worked on the fur trade for the NW company
Many were Roman Catholic
religion based on their French ancestry
Relied heavily on the fur trade &
The buffalo hunt

13. Metis Government
The buffalo hunt was so important that the Metis formed a government to oversee each hunt
A captain was elected to lead
Under the captain, a council of lieutenants was elected to represent the hunters
Hunts were carried out with military like precision
Strict rules were necessary to manage the large number of hunters

14. The Hunt Often organized 2 major hunts per year
The Metis hunted in massive groups, sometimes as big as people
Everyone (men, woman, and child) participated in the hunt because the Metis needed everyone that they could to help carry the hides home
Could often attain over one million pounds of meat and hide
Late 1700s: introduction of the horse, which changed the way the hunted entirely

15. Largest Hunt
During a hunt in 1840, 1,630 men, women and children managed 1,210 carts, and more than 400 horses, and 500 dogs.

16. 1840 Bison Hunt
exhibitions/batoche/docs/proof_en_buffalo_hunt.pdf
The 1840 Bison Hunt

19. Head Smashed In Buffalo Jump
Before the use of horses
Used for 5,500 years by aboriginals (around 6,000) years ago.
35 foot high cliffs
Aboriginals would dress like wolves and scare
the buffalo into running towards the cliff
The momentum of the other buffalo behind
them would cause them to be pushed off,
breaking their legs or killing them
People would be waiting at the bottom to
process the buffalo parts

20. Pemmican Proclamation
1810: Metis were main providers of buffalo products to the NWC
Selkirk Settlers were not able to grow crops so they too chose to hunt bison
Aboriginals felt like this was infringing on their rights
1814: A Pemmican Proclamation banned the export of Pemmican (Out of the Red River settlement) by Miles MacDonell (Governor of the Colony)
Meant to insure there would be provisions put in place to protect immigrants
However, the new immigrants continued to export it to the NWC

21. Pemmican War: The fight for Jerky
It begins when HBC employees begin searching NWC forts and seizing pemmican
The NWC retaliated by arresting and imprisoning the HBC men for burglary, but also destroyed the crops and destroyed the buildings of Selkirk immigrants near Fort Douglas
Together, the Metis and the NWC were determined to drive the Selkirk immigrants from the colony
They took farm equipment and horses and threatened the colonists
Skirmishes continued for several years
In 1815 MacDonnell resigned as governor and is replaced by Robert Semple
Who had no experience with the fur trade

22. Battle of Seven Oaks (15 minutes of Fame)
1816: Semple tells HBC to capture and burn Fort Gibraltar
Cuthbert Grant (Scottish and Metis ancestry) was the leader and spokesperson for the Metis
Took 60 people (40 Metis) and found a wooded area (Seven Oaks) near Fort Douglas
Semple met them and a fight broke out lasting a whopping 15 minutes
20 HBC members (including Semple) died
The Metis lost 1 person
Fort Douglas surrendered instantly

23. After Seven Oaks
When hearing of the battle at Seven Oaks Lord Selkirk was en route to the colony with his own private army
In retaliation Selkirk captured Fort William (present day Thunder Bay) the heart of the NWC fur trade empire
Selkirk winters at Fort William and head towards Fort Douglas in the spring, capturing NWC forts along the way
The war continues in this manner for 5 years
Selkirk’s colony grows, but slowly

24. A Historic Merger
HBC and NWC had been fighting since they were created
NWC was much larger but didn’t have the finances of the HBC (British govt)
HBC pushed their prices so low to the point of losing money, but had more business than the NWC
NWC reached the Pacific by 1793, with the HBC soon after
NWC was not making as much money because they had no where to go and the HBC was scooping up most of the First Nation’s clients
1821: Massive merger of both companies, creating the largest fur-trade organization in North America (kept the Hudson’s Bay Company name)

25. The Decline of the Fur Trade…No More Bison Burgers
The overhunting of beaver fur and the introduction to felt hats marked a huge decline in trades
Bison robe became the new thing and it caused a mass slaughtering of bison
Bison were killed by the thousands, driving the species to the edge of extinction
As low as 1,000 left worldwide (now back up to 500,000)

26. The 49th Parallel The late 19th Century: Britain and USA had constant
issues around land claims
Both wanted the Pacific Northwest:
Britain called it Columbia District
USA called it Oregon Country
1845: Joint control over this area was terminated
1846: Oregon Treaty: Divided the border as we see it today.