The Fur Trade Two hundred years ago, felt hats made from beaver fur were fashionable in Europe. The country that was to become Canada was rich with beaver. The search for new sources of fur stimulated exploration and helped to establish the borders of Canada from sea to sea to sea... The Fur Trade Across The Continent The fur trade era can be traced from 1670 when the Hudson Bay Company (HBC) built a series of permanent trading posts along the shores of Hudson Bay. Native trappers brought furs to these posts to trade for European items. By 1770, competing French-Canadian traders, whose style was to travel inland to trade with native trappers in their home territories, had penetrated as far west as the Rocky Mountains. The French-Canadians were the backbone of the North-West Company formed in 1783. Alexander Mackenzie was a partner in the company, and by 1793 he had explored to the Arctic, and finally the Pacific at Bella Coola. For many years the Nor'Westers, as they were known, dominated the fur trade, competing vigorously with the HBC and other traders. Competition initially benefited the native suppliers because it caused higher prices and better trade goods. It also contributed to an increase in alcohol trade, violence, and severe over trapping. In 1821 the Hudson Bay Company merged with the North-West Company and the fur trade continued to flourish into the middle 1800s. Changes in European fashion, and a shift from fur trading to farming and gold mining, caused the fur trade to decline. HBC control of the area ended in 1858 when New Caledonia (British Columbia) became a Crown Colony.

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