The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1900-03-24
IN THE SERVICE OF THE HUDSON
4 4 vs.

IN THE SERVICE OF THE HUDSON
BAY COMPANY.
| IT Is like breath from the pine
scented wilds of the north to talk with
some of the trappers and hunters at the
Sportsman's show, particularly with
Colin Rankin. who was fifty years in the
service OF the Hudson Bay company.
MIR. Rankin rose to be chief factor, a
high rank, when it Is remembered that
the famous company Of merchant adj
V nturers is more considerable affair
than many governments, ruling and d.
rectly affecting the well-being of tens
of thousands Of people, and a chief fac
tor is the third in rank of it's service.
The only superiors are commissioners
in charge of the general stores at Mon
treal, Winnipeg, Vancouver, Victoria,
Calgary and Edmonton. and then Lord
Strathcona himself in London, the
president.
Perhaps nowhere else in the world can
one find adventure SO thoroughly organ
tied. The work Of the Hudson Bay peo-
pie is trade and barter, of course, but it
is carried on in an unsettled country,
altogether by meana of canoes and the
life Of a voyager while probably be-
coming monotonous to him in time, APP
peals to an outsider as the type of daily
adventure, and it is the most popuous
field in the world of constant, outdoor,
health-giving natural life.
Men in the service think it nothing
out of the ordinary to start on a canoe
journey of five hundred or thousand
miles, renewing supplies from post to
post, spending from two to three to six
teen days in real camping tours be-
tween posts, and generally taking as
regular thing what the effete city chap
regards as the only true vacation.
There are hundreds of posts, each in
charge of a factor who has from two or
three to a dozen men in the work of es-
Establishment. Everything transported Is
In the hands of the voyagers, number
ing thousands, each canoe or train of
canoes in charge of a clerk The chief
factor has a district to oversee, calling
for almost continuous travelling by ca
noe through all but untrodden wilds.
The personnel of this force is largely
composed of Indians and half-hreeds,
who do the heavy work and furnish IL
the term is permissible, the necessary
woodcraft--the efficient handling of ca
noes, the plotting in the sometimes tur-
bulent waters traverSed, the incidental
hunting while on the way in varying
the daily menu. The standard unit in
cargo work is a canoe capable of carry
ing two tons. Seven men and clerk
constitute the crew. The canoe itself
can be borne across portageS by three
of the men, the other four carrying the
merchandise. Sometimes trains of
several canoes travel together, but or
ganzed as above, there being a saving
in the number of clerks sent along.
The chief factor and commissioners use
a lighter canoe on their travels, manned
with six or eight men and capable of
making from fifty to sixty miles in a
day, including portages.
The company provides everything,
and since its corporation In 1870 1t has
accumulated a fund of knowledge in the
treatment of it's men that is well nigh
complete, and experience has shown It
to be satisfactory. Scrupulous fair
dealing for centuries enables the COM
pany to command the willing services
of the natives, who, Mr.. Rankin says
are jolly, cheerful race, a rather sur
prising statement in view of what we
are taught to believe of an Indian.
They are quite willing to work, are am
bilious for their children; not all of
them. perhaps, but in quite as good a
proportion as among the white races
and are worthy associates in every
way Liquor is a bane among Indians
as among whites, but tact and judg-