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THE MEN HE LED
IT is usual to make
great movements in the world depend on the trusted leader who
inspires courage, and points the way to other men. Thomas Carlyle's
doctrine of heroes is a very simple way of accounting for human
progress. Great leaders themselves, however, are the first to point
out how much they depend for their success on the faith, honour, and
ability of their subordinates, and to cast doubt on Carlyle's
philosophy. Especially in the case of Governor Simpson was this so.
He was young, unacquainted with the fur trade, and in a remarkable
degree dependent on those leaders in the company who had tramped the
winter snows and stood up for their own party in Rupert's Land, the
Indian territories, and New Caledonia.
The band of
twenty-five chief factors and twenty-eight chief traders, chosen
half and half from each of the uniting companies, made up half a
hundred men whose knowledge, experience, courage, and zeal could
hardly be surpassed. With a sprinkling of Englishmen and a few Irish
these select leaders of the fur trade were chiefly Scotsmen, who,
with executive ability and power of adaptation, upheld the
reputation of their countrymen for sagacity and trustworthiness. It
may be worth while to look at some of these leaders and their
achievements as they aided the young governor in bringing order out
of the chaos into which conflict had thrown the companies.
Chief among the chief factors was Colin
Robertson, who had been a Nor'-Wester at first, but who had entered
the service of the Hudson's Bay Company under Lord Selkirk's
direction to forward the interests of the colony. Robertson, while
somewhat irascible, was a useful and competent man. His appointment
augured well for a friendly attitude towards the Red River colonists
on the part of the new company, and was a pledge that the interests
of the English company would not be swamped by the aggressive
traders from Montreal.
Another chief factor of peculiarly
picturesque and notable mien was John McLaughlin. His part was
chiefly played west of the Rocky Mountains in the Oregon district.
Edward Ellice, the peacemaker between the companies, said of
McLaughlin, "Dr. McLaughlin was rather an ambitious and independent
personage. He was a very able man, and, I believe, a very good man.
. . . While he remained with the Hudson's Bay Company he was an
excellent servant." McLaughlin was fond of show, and his
distinguished manner is said to have impressed Governor Simpson. A
trader's journal is worth quoting: "McLaughlin and his suite would
sometimes accompany the south-bound expeditions from Fort Vancouver,
in regal state, for fifty or one hundred miles up the Willamette,
when he would dismiss them with his blessing, and return to the
fort. He did not often travel and seldom far; but on these occasions
he indulged his men rather than himself in some little variety. . .
. It pleased Mrs. McLaughlin thus to break the monotony of her fort
life. Upon a gaily-caparisoned steed, with silver trappings and
strings of bells on bridle reins and saddle skirt, sat the lady of
Fort Vancouver, herself arrayed in brilliant colours, and wearing a
smile which might cause to blush and hang its head the broadest,
warmest, and most fragrant sunflower. By her side, also gorgeously
attired, rode her lord, king of the Columbia, and every inch a king,
attended by a train of trappers, under a chief trader, each upon his
best behaviour."
Further north in New Caledonia proper,
as the district to the west of the Rocky Mountains had been named by
the enterprising Scotsmen from Montreal, Chief Factor John Stuart
made a name for himself. Near the beginning of the nineteenth
century, John Stuart, as lieutenant of Simon Fraser, made one of the
most notable and difficult journeys of exploration recorded, in his
descent of the Fraser River from its source iii Stuart's Lake, so
called from this trader, to a few miles from its entrance into the
Pacific Ocean. John Stuart, though second in command of the
expedition, was versed in engineering and was a more cultivated man
than his leader, Simon Fraser. He is generally believed to have been
the brain of the enterprise. Stuart was a man of much information
and literary tastes. Far up in the fastnesses of the Rocky Mountains
lie kept in touch with the important new books, and from his lofty
standpoint discoursed upon the amenities of literature in
correspondence with his fellow-traders of kindred tastes.
Foremost among the chief factors under
the new organization were Donald McKenzie, a man of affairs, and
Alexander Christie, who had a diplomatic and kindly spirit. Both of
these men rose still higher in the service of the company, becoming
governors of the colony of Assiniboia. Some dozen years after the
union of the companies, it became evident that the Hudson's Bay
Company should relieve Lord Selkirk's heirs of the responsibility of
maintaining the colony. During eight years of this time Governor
McKenzie ruled as well as the troublous times would permit. When a
settlement was reached with Lord Selkirk's representatives,
Alexander Christie, who had succeeded Governor McKenzie, became the
official governor of Selkirk colony, under the general control of
Governor Simpson.
Many schemes for the agricultural
development of the Red River colony had been tried during the
transition period after Lord Selkirk's death until 1835, but they
had failed, and this chiefly through mismanagement. The Hudson's Bay
Company now found it necessary to supersede the patriarchal form of
government, and to give a semblance of representative government.
The council of Assiniboia was a partly
successful ruling body, though in its later years unpopular, largely
because it was said to reflect the company's rather than the popular
opinion. Governor Christie was the first governor of Assiniboia who
had a regular council to assist him. The council included fifteen
members, Governor Simpson was president but Governor Christie the
local head of the body. This council included the leading clergy,
retired fur traders, merchants, and settlers of the colony. Chief
Factor Christie served his first period as governor for six years,
and after an interval another period of two years.
Thus among the twenty-five chief factors
and twenty-eight chief traders we might go on selecting men worthy
of notice. Time would fail to tell all their notable exploits. James
Bird retired to settle in the colony and became a member of
influence in the council of Assiniboia. Edward Smith became a
dominant figure in the far Mackenzie River district. Chief Factor
George Keith, who passed most of his life in Athabaska, Mackenzie
River, and Great Bear Lake, wrote a series of most interesting
letters, embodying a number of Indian tales; his brother James was
also a leading chief factor who lived in later years at Lachine.
Chief Factor James
Leith will long be remembered. In his will less than twenty years
after the coalition of the companies he left £12,000 to be expended
for the benefit of the Indian missions of Rupert's Land. His
relatives bitterly opposed this bequest, but the case was decided
against them, and the interest of this amount, with £300 a year
given by the Hudson's Bay Company, now goes as an annual income of
£700 to the bishopric of Rupert's Land. So much for the leaders at
the time of the union.
As years quickly passed new men rose to
take the place of the retiring chief factors and to give Governor
'Simpson their assistance. To name a few of these is but fair.
In 1825 William Connolly became chief
factor. He was notable in the district west of the Rocky Mountains,
New Caledonia, being in charge of Fort St. James. Married to an
Indian wife, his large family grew up to be well educated and
notable. One of his daughters became Lady Douglas, the wife of Sir
James Douglas of Victoria, British Columbia.
On William Connolly leaving the heights
of the Rocky Mountains, he was succeeded in the charge of his post
by Peter Warren Dease, who became chief factor in 1828. Dease was
very celebrated in his notable expedition with Thomas Simpson, a
relation of Governor Simpson. they were sent out by the Hudson's Bay
Company to explore, in 1837, the coast of the Arctic Sea, and
performed the duties assigned to them with much success.
Duncan Finlayson became a chief factor
in 1832, and seven years later began his five years of service as
governor of Assiniboia. The reign of Governor Finlayson is treasured
in the memory of the people of the Red River Settlement as that of
an ideal governor. Ross says of him: "A man of business habits,
liberal principles, and strictly just, he knew nothing of party and
its objects, but at once took his position in the interests of all,
and especially as the friend of the poor." This is a most desirable
record for a public man to leave behind him.
But among all those called to his
councils by Governor Simpson, the man possessed of the highest
qualities as an administrator was James Douglas, afterwards Sir
James, who eventually became a chief factor. Douglas was a man of
imperial mind, and his fame stands high on the Pacific coast today.
Born near the beginning of the century, a scion of the noble house
of Douglas, James Douglas joined the North-West Company as a lad,
and, going west, was soon taken by Dr. McLaughlin to the Pacific
slope. At Fort St. James lie learned the Indian languages with the
same facility as he had mastered French, and soon among the wild
tribes of the Upper Rockies showed his ability in managing men. He
married Nellie Connolly, a native girl of sixteen, daughter of
Trader Connolly. He rose with marvellous rapidity in the service,
and was made chief factor in 1840. It was said of him: "He was one
of the most enterprising and inquisitive of men, famous for his
intimate acquaintance with every service of the coast." He became
governor of Vancouver Island in 1851, was knighted in 1863, and
continued governor of the island as well as of the mainland of
British Columbia.
It is impossible even to mention the
names of all who were high in favour as trusted councillors of
Governor Simpson during his many years of service. The appointments
to the annual council, usually held at Norway House, were generally
made at the governor's suggestion. This tended to make his position
somewhat difficult, by spreading the impression that lie was the
fur-trading autocrat, an impression, indeed, which a close reading
of the records will not fail to confirm.
Men are at times raised to positions of
importance largely on account of what seem to be accidental
circumstances. An instance of this is seen in the case of James
Hargrave. He was for years the officer in charge of York Factory, on
Hudson Bay, which was the entrepot of Rupert's Land. Orders from
traders and others for their supplies poured in to Hargrave, who had
goods bought and forwarded inland by the annual ship as it arrived
at York Factory from Britain.
A strong friend of Hargrave's at Red
River Settlement was the Rev. William Cochrane, the stalwart
missionary who really laid the foundations of the Church of England
in Rupert's Land. The forces at work in making chief factors are
shown by him in a letter to Hargrave. After years of service at York
Factory, Hargrave thought, and so did his friends, that he was
deserving of the honour of promotion from the position of bout cois
to that of chief trader, and after that chief factor. The chief
tradership was long in coming. Before it came Cochrane wrote to him
of his expectation that the governor would grant it. Disappointed in
one year he writes in the next: "Are you likely to get another
feather in your cap? I begin to think that your name will have to be
changed into MacArgrave. A 'Mac' before your name would produce a
greater effect than all the rest of your merits put together. Can't
you demonstrate that you are one of the descendants of one of the
great clans?" But the governor did not forget, for in 1833 Hargrave
was made chief trader and eleven years afterwards chief factor.
John Siveright, George Barnston, and
John Ballenden were all men who as letter writers, prominent
traders, and able men rose to the highest places of distinction in
the service.
One most notable man whose name cannot be passed by is that of the
trader and explorer, Dr. John Rae, who became a chief factor in
1850. Dr. Rae's chief distinction was his daring and success in
coasting up the west shore of Hudson Bay, chiefly without carrying a
supply train. He found traces of the remains of Sir John Franklin,
and obtained half the reward offered by the British government for
traces of the lost explorer. Dr. Rae was a man of scientific tastes
and most active mind, and to the day of his death retained an
enthusiastic interest in Rupert's Land.
William McTavish, who reached the height
of ambition of every fur trader, was appointed chief factor in 1851,
and became the last governor of Assiniboia under the Hudson's Bay
Company regime He was a man of force of character, though he fell on
evil times in the troublous years of 1869 and 1870.
The region of Labrador knew well the
distinguished services of Donald A. Smith, now Lord Strathcona, for
more than twenty years under Governor Simpson's rule, though he was
not made chief factor until the year after the death of the great
governor.
Robert Campbell, a Perthshire Highlander, for more than thirty years
a favourite of the governor, noted as the discoverer of the Upper
Yukon, and John McIntyre, master of Fort William, a devoted follower
of the governor, both rose, some years after Sir George's death, to
high rank in the company.
These are some of the men—not by any
means all who should be mentioned—who supported Governor Simpson and
helped to make his administration strong. Many of their names have
been given to posts, or forts, or lakes, or capes in the wide extent
of Rupert's Land. They were chiefly noted for their uprightness and
trustworthiness. Among the Indians, when there was no military or
police force, no law or civil authority, it was found that the
probity and faithfulness of the fur trader was the chief power in
promoting order and good-will among the native peoples. The Hudson's
Bay Company's officers and men gained the reputation of being keen
traders not to be trifled with, and yet fair men who would not take
undue advantage in a bargain. Governor Simpson had, on the whole, a
trustworthy band of men to lead, and this largely accounted for his
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