The Fur Trade: Manitoba’s Legacy
How a beaver pelt built a country
By Shel Zolkewich
It glows white on the horizon. A lone building set on a lush peninsula
bordered by the mighty Hayes and Nelson rivers and the vast Hudson Bay.
An unexpected sign of civilization in a remote land, the Hudson’s Bay
Company building at York Factory is quiet now.
This building is just one of the artifacts that tell the story of Canada’s fur
trade and in fact, the history of our great country. The fur trade is why
Canada exists. And nowhere is it easier to immerse yourself in that history
than in Manitoba. So let’s take a little tour where beaver pelts, colourful
woolen blankets and portages over sinister rapids are just all part of a
day’s work.
Manitoba Historical Fur Trade Tour
For the last 10 years, history buffs have boarded a plane in Winnipeg and
set off to the north in search of heritage tidbits. The two-day tour, offered
by Heartland International Travel & Tours, includes a stop in Norway
House at the top of vast Lake Winnipeg and a ride in an enormous York
boat, the vessel that transported furs and goods along the trade routes.
Then it’s up to Churchill and a visit to Prince of Wales Fort, a massive
stone structure known as the pyramid of the north. But the ah-ha moment
of this tour happens as you approach York Factory from the air.
It’s hard to imagine that in the mid 1800s, this was a bustling centre of
trade with thousands of people going about their business. It was home to
doctors and teachers, clergy and coopers, photographers, librarians, a
blacksmith and a baker. If history had taken a different path, there’s a good
chance that Portage and Main would have been at York Factory. From
1812 to the late 1850s, it was the main entry point for European
immigration to Western Canada.
Only two buildings still stand on the site, but getting to them takes some
effort. If you have a couple of weeks and strong shoulders, a canoe trip up
the Hayes will get you here. Otherwise it’s a chartered flight on a small
plane (just like the one Heartland uses). Because the peninsula where
York Factory sits can be marshy, planes must land on a gravel island in
the Hayes. If you’re used to asphalt and blue lights on your runway, you
might be in for a surprise. From the island it’s a boat ride to the factory,
across the Hayes that churns out a seven knot current.
The big white building—called the depot—was built in 1831 and is the
oldest and largest wooden building in Canada standing on permafrost.
Inside, table after table is loaded with artifacts all lined up in neat rows.
There are handmade nails and shards of blue and white pottery, cannon
balls and sewing needles made from bone, tiny glass medicine bottles and
even a lone harmonica. Take a deep breath and you can almost smell the
beaver, martin and lynx pelts that were stacked three storeys high, waiting
to take the voyage through Hudson Bay, across the Atlantic and to an
auction house in London.
Lower Fort Garry National Historic Site
One of the most common questions asked of the tour guides is when was
this site reconstructed. The answer is, it wasn’t. This is the real deal,
complete with original stone buildings and an imposing limestone wall that
runs around the complex. When you step into the fur loft, imagine the
countless negotiations that happened in this very space as Metis trappers
haggled for the best prices on their lots. A bundle of marten pelts might be
traded for two Hudson’s Bay Company point blankets, a new teakettle, five
pounds of sugar and a little tobacco.
Construction on Lower Fort Garry began in 1830. It served as the business
hub for the Hudson’s Bay Company until the last fur was shipped from
these storied walls in 1911. This busy fort included a distillery, lime kiln,
grist mill and a workshop to build the famous York boats that hauled goods
up the Red River, across Lake Winnipeg, up the Hayes River and into York
Factory at Hudson Bay. There was also a large scale farm, a blacksmith
shop and retail store. In short, it was a fully functioning community.
On any given day, interpreters in costumes representing 1850 will lead
visitors through a day in a life at the fort. But if you want to see a little
more, then sign up for a behind-the-scenes tour. You’ll crawl into a root
cellar, journey into the attic of the warehouse and then the basement of the
fur loft. In other words, you’ll get a little closer to life during the fur trade.
HBC Gallery at Manitoba Museum
In 1994, the Hudson’s Bay Company offered a very nice gift to the people
of Canada. It donated its entire collection of artifacts—some 10,000 of
them—to the Manitoba Museum for safekeeping. When the permanent
Hudson’s Bay Company Gallery opened at the museum in 2000, the finest
pieces were put on display including a child’s jacket made of loon feathers,
some of the very first point blankets to be traded and finely beaded
tobacco pouches. These artifacts represent only about five percent of the
collection. To see more, you’ll have to go behind the scenes.
A quick elevator trip the second floor leads to a maze of climate-controlled
rooms, all housing bits and pieces of HBC history. Pull back the white
curtains and you’ll discover artwork that made its way onto the annual
company calendar, snowshoes used in different parts of the country and a
wooden box for letters that traveled back and forth across the Atlantic.
It’s here that donations made by families of HBC employees are safely
held, including items that belonged to chief factor Nathaniel McKenzie,
who served the company in the 1880s. Tray after tray of his personal
belonging are revealed on this tour—an elaborately beaded table runner, a
pair of delicate ladies’ gloves made of caribou hide.
Manitoba Archives
If you’d like to see what your great, great, great grandfather looked like and
he was an employee of the HBC, you just might be in luck. In 1994, the
company donated all of its historic records to the Manitoba Archives.
Within this extensive collection, you’ll find photographs, drawings,
paintings, cartographic records, minutes from meetings held in 1671,
diaries, letters and more than 100 movies. Inside the quiet cubicles, you
may just lay eyes on a long lost relative.
-30Manitoba Historical Fur Trade Tour
Heartland International Travel & Tours
Originating in Winnipeg, the trip happens annually in August and includes a stop
at York Factory. 204 989-9630. [email protected]
Cost: $2,489 per person based on double occupancy
Lower Fort Garry National Historic Site
5925 Highway 9
St. Andrews, Manitoba (about 30 minutes north of Winnipeg)
Open from May to September. Behind the Scenes tours run on Fridays.
204 785-6050 [email protected]
Admission: $7.80 for adults
Manitoba Museum
HBC Gallery
190 Rupert Avenue
Winnipeg, Manitoba
Open year round. HBC Gallery Behind the Scenes tours run on Wednesdays.
(204) 956-2830 [email protected]
Admission: $9 for adults
Manitoba Archives
Hudson’s Bay Company Archives Holdings
130-200 Vaughan Street
Winnipeg, Manitoba
204 945-3971 [email protected]
Admission: free
Where To Get The Goods
If you’re looking for a symbol of Canada’s fur trade, there’s likely nothing more
iconic that the Hudson’s Bay Company point blanket. Among the many colours
that have been offered through the years, nothing says Canada quite like that
white woolen blanket featuring green, red, yellow and indigo stripes—in that
order. This colour-combo has been in continuous production since 1800 which
explains why so many couples received a multistripe blanket as a wedding gift. A
twin-sized blanket will set you back about $295. A king-sized blanket costs just
shy of $500. But if you really want something special, opt for the coyote fur throw
blanket. The blanket features multistripe wool on one side and fluffy coyote fur on
the other. It rings in at $2,495.
The Fur Trade: Alive and Well
Manitoba isn’t only home to the history of the fur trade; it’s an ongoing player in
the fur industry. Each winter, thousands of trappers repeat a process that’s been
going in for 350 years in this province. They head into the wilderness, harvest fur
bearing animals and sell those pelts to the highest bidder. For trappers in the
north, the Thompson Fur Table held every December in the community provides
an opportunity for trappers to get some revenue for early-season furs. The 207
trappers at last year’s event took home a combined $683,559, the highest
amount paid out in the past 30 year of this event. The most plentiful fur was
marten with 6,875 pelts crossing the table. To put that in perspective, in 2004,
there were over 230 trappers at that fur table. A total of $497,408 changed
hands.