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By H. A. Innis

The Canadian Historical Review Volume VIII

The early history of the series of partnerships known as the North West Company is a fascinating, but little known, field. The agreements of 1802 and 1804 given in L. R. Masson, Les Bourgeois de la Compagnie de Nord-Ouest (Quebec, 1890), Vol. II, pp. 459-481 and 482-499 respectively, were presented as the only constitutions the organization possessed, and so far as I am aware, the following agreement^[1] of 1790, to which M. Pierre-Georges Roy, the archivist of the province of Quebec, has drawn my attention, is the first constitution of an earlier date to come to light. Some general items of this agreement were given in a letter^[2] from Alexander Mackenzie to Roderick Mackenzie dated Lac la Pluie, August, 1791, but little was known of the detailed character of the concern.

From the information presented in this document it has been possible to determine, with approximate accuracy, the proportion of the shares held by different partners in the amalgamation of 1787. The members of the opposition company^[3] formed in 1784-5, which included John Gregory, Peter Pangman, John Ross, Alexander Mackenzie, and Normand McLeod (dormant partner) had been reduced to four in number through the murder of John Ross in the winter of 1786-7, and these were given one share each in the amalgamated company. The remaining sixteen shares were divided as follows: McTavish, Frobisher and Co., seven; Robert Grant, two; Nicholas Montour, two; Patrick Small, two; Peter Pond, one; George McBeath, one; and William Holmes, one.

Having determined the allocation of shares in the amalgamation of 1787 and the number of shares owned in the new company by members of the old company of 1783, I had hoped to discover the number of shares held by the original partners in 1783-4, but the changes from that year to 1787 are uncertain. In a copy of the Frobisher letter book in the Canadian Archives it is shown that Benjamin Frobisher died on April 15, 1787; that S. McTavish, in a letter dated Montreal, April, 1787, suggested a partnership of equal shares; that Joseph Frobisher accepted the arrangement; and that the partnership of McTavish, Frobisher and Co. was completed on Nov. 19, 1787. McTavish stated that this arrangement gave the firm one-half the concern, after deducting the shares of Small and Montour. From this information the conjecture is submitted that the sixteen shares of the partnership of 1783-4 were divided as follows: Peter Pond (who refused to accept the share allocated to him, but a year later agreed), had one share; Grant, Montour, Small each held two shares and Holmes one share in the amalgamated concern of 1787, and it is probable that they held the same number of shares in the agreement of 1783-4; according to the Frobisher letter book, McBeath held two shares, one of which was apparently sold in 1787 to McTavish, Frobisher and Co.; the remaining six shares were evenly divided between S. McTavish and B. and J. Frobisher. The number of canoes for each license in that year supports the conclusion that the two shares each held by Montour and Small were under the control of B. and J. Frobisher and S. McTavish respectively. Each canoe was roughly represented by one share. In partnerships those supplying the capital secured the larger shares—McBeath two and Pond one, Grant two and Holmes one, McTavish three and Small two, and Frobisher three and Montour two.

This suggestion as to the probable distribution of shares in the agreement of 1783-4 is supported by an analysis of the developments of the preceding period. The beginnings of trouble with the American colonies and the increasing competition in southern areas, as well as the prospect of large profits to be obtained from trade in the Northwest, led to a great movement to that territory. Peter Pond, who had traded on the Mississippi in 1773 and 1774, and Alexander Henry, with his partner Cadotte, decided to venture to the Northwest in 1775. Masson^[4] and Bain have suggested that the North West Company began with the joint stock arrangements on the Saskatchewan in that year, and later evidence confirms this position. The first hint of concentration appeared at Montreal in that year in the grant of one license^[5] to James McGill, Benjamin Frobisher, and Maurice Blondeau to take twelve canoes to Grand Portage, licenses for the remaining sixteen canoes to that point being divided among six other grantees of whom Lawrence Ermatinger was the largest, with six canoes. Following this concentration of the trade in Montreal, Alexander Henry described the new alignments in the interior. Arriving^[6] “at Cumberland House, the parties separated.” Pond took two canoes to Fort Dauphin, and Cadotte, Henry’s partner, four canoes to Fort des Prairies. Joseph and Thomas Frobisher and Alexander Henry joined their stock, “Messrs. Frobisher retained six [canoes] and myself four.” They wintered at Beaver Lake and built a post on the Churchill River in the spring of 1776. Thomas Frobisher followed this successful venture by wintering at Isle à la Crosse Lake in 1776-7. On his visit to Fort des Prairies in the winter of 1775-6, Henry found four different interests, probably James Finlay, Patterson representing McGill and Patterson, Holmes representing Holmes and Grant, and, lastly, Cadotte, who had “fortunately this year agreed to join their stock, and when the season was over, to divide the skins and meat.” The amalgamation of interests was evident at Montreal and in the Saskatchewan. License returns for 1776 are missing, but in the following year concentration was also evident in the license to J. Bte. Adhémar with James McGill guarantor, for ten canoes valued at £5100.

The existence of a distinct organization at this date, was generally assumed, as is shown in the following extracts. Lieutenant-Governor Sinclair in letters from Michilimackinac dated February 15, 1780, wrote:^[7] “The North West Company are not better than they ought to be, their conduct in sending an embassy to Congress in ’76 may be traced now to matters more detrimental.” Lawrence Ermatinger referred to the North West Company in a letter dated November 28, 1776. In 1778 John McGill and Frobisher despatched twelve canoes presumably for the Company, since John Askin, in a letter^[8] dated Michilimackinac, June 13, 1778, to these men wrote, “As I’m informed that you have to transact the business of the N. W. Co. this season”; and in a letter^[9] of June 14, 1778, to Todd and McGill, he wrote, “As to the supplying of others with rum, corn, etc. after I have made sure of what will be wanted for the great Co. (as we must now term them for distinction sake).”

Hostilities incidental to the American Revolution and the decline in furs to the south were increasingly responsible for a shift of traders from Detroit to the north. Simon McTavish had been interested in forwarding supplies from Albany to Detroit in 1774. In 1775 his name with that of McBeath appears as the owner of a vessel of thirty tons. He was engaged in trade to Grand Portage in 1776, but it was not until 1778 that his name appeared among the grantees of licenses to that point, when he was given permission to take eight canoes. An increase in the number of interests trading from Grand Portage led to renewed attempts to discover new territory. In 1778 several interests combined^[10] to support Pond in an expedition of four canoes to the Athabaska country to repeat the success of Thomas Frobisher in the preceding year. The chief interests were represented by the two houses of Frobisher and McTavish, and this arrangement was probably the direct forerunner of the North West Company of 1783-4. The expedition was very successful, and Pond came out in 1779 to Montreal. In 1779^[11] those concerned in the Northwest “joined their stock together and made one common interest” of the whole, sixteen shares being divided as follows: the larger interests—Todd and McGill two shares; B. and J. Frobisher two shares; McTavish and Co. two shares; McBeath and Co. two shares; and the independent interests possibly, Holmes and Grant two shares, and Waden and Co. two shares; Ross and Co. one share, Oakes and Co. one share. Apparently Waden, as a representative of the small independent interests, was sent as a compromise choice by the amalgamated concern during Pond’s absence, as he wintered in 1779 at Lac la Ronge. According to one account^[12] the agreement of 1779 was renewed in 1780 for three years, but discontinued in two years. The licenses granted at that time support this conclusion. In 1780 a license was granted to Frobisher and Frobisher for eight canoes, in 1781 to Todd and McGill, B. and J. Frobisher, and McGill and Patterson for twelve canoes, in 1782 to B. and J. Frobisher for ten canoes. In 1783 the agreement was apparently broken and licenses for large shipments to Grand Portage were granted as follows: B. and J. Frobisher, 5 canoes valued at 3500 livres; S. McTavish, 6 canoes valued at 4500 livres; Holmes and Grant, 3 canoes valued at 1800 livres; and to Lake Superior, McBeath and Pond, 3 canoes valued at 2000 livres.

In any case Pond was granted a license for four canoes to Grand Portage in 1780, and apparently returned to winter in Athabaska and collect the furs he had been obliged to leave in 1779. He was at Grand Portage in 1781, and was selected^[13] presumably by the larger interests as a representative to trade a joint stock with Waden, who apparently spent the summer at Lac la Ronge. Waden was killed in March, 1782, as a result, it has been suggested, of quarrels over policies in which Waden represented the small independent interests and Pond the larger interests. Pond is reported^[14] to have met the Indians from the Athabaska country, traded with them and warned them of the smallpox among the Indians below. In the same year the agreement of the fur traders appears to have broken up, possibly as the result of the news of Waden’s death, and two parties were sent to establish posts in Athabaska of which one probably representing the small independent traders was successful in reaching the district only to find that the smallpox had preceded them. They secured only seven packs of furs. There is reason to believe that Pond did not reach the district in 1782, but undoubtedly he was in Athabaska in 1783 and secured favourable returns. Meanwhile McTavish and the Frobishers gradually emerged as the strongest independent interests, and, the advantages of co-operation having been realized, a new agreement was made in 1783-4, which has been regarded as the beginning of the North West Company. The omission of the small independent traders was a feature of the agreement which led to the formation of the small company and to the period of competition from 1785 to 1787, when amalgamation followed. The success of the amalgamation has been questioned, and it is probable that Alexander Mackenzie as the chief representative of the small traders never became reconciled to the policies of the larger organization.

The North West Company of 1783-4 emerged as the result of the increased strength necessary to prosecute the trade in the Athabaska country, of the pressure toward the north which followed the dislocation of trade to Detroit incidental to the American Revolution, and of the disappearance of Albany as a rival base to Montreal. The Company of 1787 was a result of the impossibilities of competition in the trade.

The agreement of 1790 occupies an important position in the evolution of the organization. According to article one, “McTavish, Frobisher and Co. shall do all the business of this concern at Montreal.” The trade was carried on through Montreal importing firms, which in turn had connections with English firms. Again conjectures may be made as to the interrelationship of these firms at that time. From information in the Frobisher letter book it appears that McBeath’s two shares were supplied by Forsyth in Montreal and in turn by Phyn and Ellice in London. According to a letter dated 1787 from John Richardson to John Porteous, McBeath was obliged to assign the affairs of McBeath, Grant and Co. to the hands of trustees, and he had undertaken a debt due by Sutherland and Grant to Phyn and Ellice “which will, of course, insure his ruin.” These difficulties apparently necessitated the sale of at least one share to McTavish, Frobisher and Co., and Pond and McBeath’s two shares were then supplied by Phyn and Ellice. Holmes and Grant was supplied by Brickwood. B. and J. Frobisher was supplied by Brickwood, Pattle and Co., and S. McTavish by Dyer, Allan and Co. The new firm of McTavish, Frobisher and Co. of 1787 was supplied equally by Brickwood, Pattle and Co., and Dyer, Allan and Co. In 1788 Dyer, Allan and Co. transferred their share to Brickwood, Pattle and Co. In the following year McTavish, Frobisher and Co. secured the right to supply McBeath and Pond’s shares, and the share of Dyer, Allan and Co. acquired by Brickwood, Pattle and Co. was transferred to Phyn and Ellice in England. Phyn and Ellice were represented in Canada by the firm of R. Ellice and Co. which was chiefly interested in the southern trade. This firm disappeared on April 1, 1790; and a new firm, Forsyth, Richardson and Co., was formed which made provision for Forsyth who had been eliminated from the Northwest trade. The supply business of the North West Company in Montreal had come into the hands of the single firm of McTavish, Frobisher and Co., and that of the southern trade into the hands of Forsyth, Richardson and Co. In England, McTavish, Frobisher and Co. was supplied by Brickwood, Pattle and Co. and by Phyn and Ellice, the latter also acting as a supply house for Forsyth, Richardson and Co. These arrangements were strengthened in the agreement of 1790 which began with the first outfit for the year 1792 and ran for seven years to 1798, when it was superseded by the agreement of 1795, which began with the first outfit for 1799. The agreement of 1790 is important as it represents the first charter in which consolidation from London to the Northwest had become effective. Gregory and McLeod had been disposed of in the amalgamation of 1787, and Forsyth, Richardson and Co. were chiefly concerned in the Detroit trade. In 1792 McTavish, Frobisher and Co. was supreme in the Northwest. The basis of the organization preceding the marked expansion of 1798, and of 1802, was laid down in the agreement of 1790.

The centre of disturbance to the entire trade structure was in the southern trade. A state of equilibrium had been reached by 1790, but it was of short duration. In a letter dated September 23, 1789, John Richardson^[15] wrote to John Porteous complaining of the decline of the Detroit trade and stating:

Forsyth, Richardson and Co. and Todd, McGill and Co. wrote to Dorchester in a letter dated Montreal, August 10, 1791, asking for protection in the country south of Detroit following the burning of a Miami village. In a letter dated August 15, 1793, further complaints were made of a decline in trade. “F. R. and Co. are most severe sufferers by last year’s shipments. May all the curses of Emaulphus fall upon these Sans Culottes villains of France.” A storm was precipitated with the Jay Treaty. Small firms^[16] such as Grant, Campion and Co. disappeared. The firm of Forsyth, Richardson and Co. became an important competitor for the Northwest trade in its merger with other groups in the X Y Co., especially after 1798 and after Alexander Mackenzie had joined its ranks following his release from the North West Company at the end of the 1790 agreement.

The North West Company had its origin in the demand for increasing capital following the extension of trade into the Athabaska country. Its difficulties throughout the period prior to 1804 were largely the result of gradual disappearance of the trade to the south and the struggle of small independent traders who combined in defensive groups to obtain a share of the rich fur trade of the Northwest. Alexander Mackenzie was an important figure in both of the struggles waged by the small groups from 1785 to 1787 and during the later history of the X Y Co. The hostilities of the American Revolution and the Jay Treaty had their effects on the North West Company’s agreements from 1775 to 1787 and in the formation of the X Y Co. at a later date.

TRANSCRIBER NOTES

Misspelled words and printer errors have been corrected. Where multiple spellings occur, majority use has been employed.

Punctuation has been maintained except where obvious printer errors occur.

A cover which is placed in the public domain was created for this ebook.

[The end of The North West Company by Harold Adams Innis]