and peltries, with very little opposition, until the year 1670, when the Hudson's Bay Company, established by royal charter, took possession of the territory now called "Rupert's Land," or Hudson's Bay. The Canada, or as it was more generally called, the North-West Company, was formed in 1787; and these soon became the two great rival companies of the north, as we shall have occasion to notice more fully hereafter. Next on the theatre of action appeared the Mackina Company, which swept the warm regions of the south, as the two others did those of the wintry north, until the American Fur Company, established by Mr. Astor in 1809, commenced operations; but he, finding the Mackina fur traders somewhat in his way, bought out that Company, and added its territorial resources in 1811 to those of the American Fur Company. This body corporate was entitled the South-West, in contradistinction to the North-West Company.[1]
Mr. Astor now saw himself at the head of all the [4] fur trade of the south, and his intention was to penetrate through the barriers of the Northern Company, so as eventually to come into possession of all the fur trade east of the Rocky Mountains. With this plan still before him, he now turned his views to the trade on the coast of the Pacific, or that new field lying west of the Rocky
- ↑ For the history of the great fur-trade companies, see Turner, "Character and Influence of the Fur Trade in Wisconsin," Wisconsin Historical Society Proceedings, 1889; Chittenden, History of American Fur Trade in Far West (New York, 1902); J. Long's Voyages, volume ii of our series, preface. The Mackinac Company, composed of British subjects, was formed before the surrender of the Upper Lakes posts to the Americans (1796). It operated chiefly in the West and Southwest; and in 1807, Americans on Lake Ontario fired upon its brigade. See Michigan Pioneer and Historical Collections, xxv, pp. 250-257. This company was a source of dispute between Canada and the United States until Astor purchased its stock. At the time of sale, the North West Company's partners held a controlling interest.—Ed.
