The mirror., 1921-02-03

TO the posts f0r their spring traQlng tney
found the posts deserted.
They waited all summer for the ap-
pearance of the white man, who would
give them powder and shot and axes for
their furs. The traders came not, and
when autumn was far advanced, the In
dians abandoned hope, and, filled with
despair, they took up their bundles of furs,
for which they had found no purchasers,
and journeyed sadly back to their prairie
homes
The Hudson Bay traders were quick to
take advantage of these conditions, and
turn the trade of the prairie country to
the company's posts in the north. An In
dian, no doubt inspired by the company,
went among the southern tribes and when
ever possible, he harangued the disap-
pointed visitors to the Great Lakes to this
effect:
''Fools, why do you trust those white
traders that come from beyond the Great
Lakes? They are but crows that come
and are gone. There are traders on the
banks of the north Lake (the Hudson
Bay), who are always at home. They
are like the rocks that cannot be moved;
and they give good things, in plenty and
always the same"
1t is related that more than one factor
of the company heard and told of this oft
spoken harangue, and many testified to
its effect upon the Indians. Not even was
it forgotten or disregarded years after
wards in the height of the prosperity of
the traders from the East, who were al
ways doing all in their power to induce
the Redmen of the plains to forego their
annual journeys to the company's posts at
York, Churchill, or Cumberland.
And so those Indians of the southern
plains and the southeastern forests, re-
sisting temptation, pressed onward on their
spring journey with their canoe-loads of
furs, until they came to a post of their
old friends, the servants of the Hudson
Bay Company. Thus, for number OF
years after the cession of Canada to the
British, the company's trade thrived won
derfully, having to itself practically the
entire West.
This state of affairs, so fortunate for
the company, continued for some time, but
an end came and the company found it
self confronted by competition that grew
so formidable as to seriously menace not
only the company's prosperity, but al
most its very existence. Traders from the
East began to invade the prairie country,
and they soon captured large part of
the trade. These Eastern traders fitted out
at Montreal, and then reached the Great
Lakes by way of the Ottawa River, Lake
Nipissing and the French River the route
of the projected Georgian Bay Canal.
The prairies were reached by following
the waterways, and on the prairies the In
dians were come upon, and traded with.
In this way much trade was diverted from
the Hudson Bay Companys posts. Before
marked. "The Indians continued to bring
in reports of other white traders who in
tercepted them and gave them trinkets
and rum in exchange for their furs. They
declared they were conscious of having
made bad bargains in not coming to the
company's posts; but what could they do?"
These poaching traders, who passed the
entire season on the plains, were called
"winterers," and season after season they
returned to the general meeting place,
known as the Grand Portage, at the head
of Lake Superior, with the same tale
poor trade and no profits. The poaching
traders from the East were not organized
and were not subject to discipline; but
at the same time, they were injuring the
trade of the Hudson Bay Company, and
running it in many districts. The Eastern
traders became organized and then fol-