Show FRENCH THE FIRST PIONEERS IN THE FUR INDUSTRY INDUS-TRY IN AMERICA As Far Buck na 1027 One of Tlmt Rac Began Dealing with the Indians Bitter Contests Over Territory In 1627 a Frenchman named Du Pont yet tip n little trndliiK post at the Junction Junc-tion of the Sngucnny river with the st Lawrence lie fold his merchandise to the Indians and took his pay In furs A few years later the French Fill company was organized In 1GC1 two employes were sent to the shores ol the Hudson bay and from there to Lake Superior mid Lake Wlnnt 1 IIlCg They reported furbcarlng animals In abundance but their employers werE not Impressed by the business possl bllltles of the enterprise which they suggested They went to Boston where they arousal Interest but were unable tc raise funds They went to England and then to France After three 01 four years of effort they were brought Into contact with Prince Import who agreed to flnnncc u picllmlimry expedition expedi-tion In IGflS a little vessel of CO tons named the Nonsuch left England fot parts unknown The expedition passed tho winter In Hudson bay and returned to England In the summer ot 1CGO with n full cargo Early In 1670 King Charles 11 granted grant-ed to Prince Rupert and 17others a charter as the Governor and Company of Adventurers Trading Into Hudson Day with solo rights to trade In fish whales timber minerals furs and numerous other things throughout all tho territory tributary to Hudson bay Tho name of Huperts Land was given to tho district and although this title was long since dropped officially It Is ftlll heard and tho Church of England still has a bishop of Ruperts Land The company was practically authorized author-ized to establish and maintain a government gov-ernment throughout a territory of hundreds hun-dreds of thousands of square miles In extent This was held until Its transfer trans-fer to the dominion government In I860 In consideration of 1600000 and the reservation to the company of certain cer-tain lauds and privileges If tho right man could have access to the records the legends and the campfire camp-fire tales of this remarkable Institution a series of books might bo written which by comparison would make the Lcatherstocklng tales seem almost In elpld and Mayno Holds stories almost tedious Many a ladys muff has costa cost-a mans life and many n collar has been sent to market at tho price of suffering and danger In 1783 a charter was obtained by the Northwest Fur company of Montreal on the ground of a claim that It was tho legal successor of the old French company For nearly 40 years a bitter and often bloody contest was maintained main-tained between this and tho old company com-pany In 181G the site of tho present city of Winnipeg was the scene of n pitched battle Tho two companies were consolidated In 1821 because iy > th were convinced that a contnuance of I such hostilities meant ruin to lint a The Hudsons Day company imj been one of the most Important advance guards of civilization on this continent con-tinent Around many of the forts nnd ports from which tho hardy and courageous cour-ageous voyageurs nnd coureurs de bols brought the bales of pelts by dogsled dog-sled and canoe there have grown up prosperous towns and cities Victoria Winnipeg Calgary nnd Edmonton were originally trading posts of this company com-pany I I About 23 years ago the company put steamboats on tho Saskatchewan and tho Mackenzie But even row It has I stations In the far north whore mail Is received only once a year York Factory established about 1G70 and I Fort Churchill both on the western I shore of Hudson bay will some day bo thriving cities shipping points for millions of bushels of grain and thousands thou-sands of cattle by direct steamer lines to Europe I II |