06/12/2026
FRONTIER FRIDAY
Chapter 18: The Voyageurs’ (Part V)
The Selkirk Grant and the Fur Trade ConflictsIn 1811, Thomas Douglas, Lord Selkirk—a Scottish philanthropist obsessed with helping the Scottish poor—decided on a plan to relocate them to Canada. Because his wife held a 4 percent interest in the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), Lord Selkirk asked the governing committee for a grant of land to realize his dream. Governor Andrew Colvile, a relative of Selkirk’s wife, was glad to grant this request for the meager sum of ten shillings (less than three dollars). The "Honourable Company" granted Selkirk 74 million acres between Lake Winnipeg and the source of the Red River.
This deal had several major flaws. First, almost half of the grant was located within the United States. Secondly, the land lay directly across the North West Company's (NWC) main supply line between Lake of the Woods and Lake Winnipeg. Third, the NWC was already well-established throughout the area with six major trading forts and a substantial population of Métis—the mixed-blood descendants of generations of Canadian traders. These Métis formed distinct communities, with many of them becoming traders themselves. In no time, the obstinate Selkirk and the loyal NWC Scots were at odds.
Lord Selkirk’s colonists soon began arriving at York Factory for transit to the Red River. Scurvy, poor leadership, and a severe lack of supplies left them on the brink of starvation. In an attempt to secure food, Lord Selkirk’s governor, Miles Macdonell, issued orders preventing the sale of pemmican outside the colony. He then ordered the seizure of NWC stores of pemmican and guns intended for the Indigenous trade, and directed the NWC to vacate their posts within the Red River Colony.
The NWC retaliated by arresting Macdonell and shipping him away. His replacement, Robert Semple, escalated the conflict by capturing and destroying Fort Gibraltar, as well as Pembina. In response, the Métis attacked and killed twenty colonists, including Semple, at the Battle of Seven Oaks in Manitoba.
By this time, Lord Selkirk had arrived in Montreal, claiming he wanted to negotiate a deal between the two companies. Instead, he began leveling accusations against the NWC. He purchased arms and artillery, recruited one hundred veterans from a disbanded army regiment, and violently seized Fort William along with its goods and furs, totally disrupting the fur trade.
The increasingly unstable Selkirk arrested sixteen NWC partners, including William McGillivray. Furious with them for destroying their correspondence, he forced fifteen of the partners at gunpoint into an overloaded canoe. The vessel overturned, drowning nine prominent Canadian businessmen.
Selkirk’s rampage continued into the following year before the matter was finally settled. He filed 150 lawsuits against the NWC, while the Nor'Westers brought 29 against him and the HBC. This legal mess finally ended with Selkirk being fined £5,000. The Selkirk affair seriously damaged the financial stability of many people, including Selkirk himself, who died of tuberculosis in 1820.
Post-War Pressures and Market Shifts
Another setback for the Canadians arrived at the end of the War of 1812, when the United States Congress prohibited foreigners from trading within the U.S. This restriction forced British traders south of the Great Lakes to sell out to John Jacob Astor for pennies on the dollar.
To recoup their losses, the NWC attempted to organize Eastern Indigenous groups and white trappers to compete against American mountain men along the Columbia and Snake rivers in the Rocky Mountains. New posts were also built to tap into the trade in what is now British Columbia.
The NWC suffered further losses when the HBC began utilizing the St. Lawrence River and the Great Lakes to compete directly with the NWC on the Athabasca River. This aggressive competition soon escalated to gunshots, arrests, illegal searches, kidnappings, and imprisonment—all executed under the orders of the new HBC Governor, William Williams. One NWC trader, Benjamin Frobisher, was beaten so severely by HBC men that he died from his injuries and exposure after attempting to escape.
The Merger of 1821
By this time, the NWC was in serious financial trouble. The HBC was also floundering, heavily in debt to the tune of £100,000. With the NWC partnership up for renewal in 1822, several partners opposed continuing under William McGillivray’s leadership. Dr. John McLoughlin, who had been in charge at Fort William, and Angus Bethune were sent to London in 1820 to meet with the HBC and discuss terms for the English company to act as an agent for the NWC.
To prevent a new rival company from emerging, Andrew Colvile proposed an equal merger that would carry the British government’s blessing. Parliament agreed to extend the HBC’s Rupert’s Land monopoly all the way to the Pacific Ocean.
On March 26, 1821, the McGillivray brothers and Edward Ellice agreed to the amalgamation of the two companies. The agreement allowed the combined entity to retain the historic name Hudson’s Bay Company and be managed directly from London. As a concession to the Canadians, the new company created a class of "Chief Factors" who held profit-sharing and decision-making powers.
Ultimately, the real loss was felt by Montreal, which was stripped of its significance to the multi-million-dollar business it had built. The control of the Canadian fur trade had permanently shifted to London and York Factory.
C. Dies
