Page:Portland, Oregon, its History and Builders volume 1.djvu/106

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68
THE CITY OF PORTLAND

Post—Fort Boise; locality, Oregon territory; department, Oregon; district, Snake Co.; Indians, 200.

Post—Fort Victoria; locality, Vancouver island; department, Western; district, Vancouver island; Indians, 5,000.

Post—Fort Rupert; locality, Vancouver island; department, Western; district, Vancouver island; Indians, 4,000.

Post—Nanimo; locality, Vancouver island; department, Western; district, Vancouver island; Indians, 3,000.

Post—Fort Langley; locality, Indian territory; department, western; district, Frazer river; Indians, 4,000.

Post—Fort Simpson; locality, Indian territory; department, Western; district, Northwest coast; Indians, 10,000.

Post—Fort Simpson; locality, Indian territory; department Western; district, Northern Tribes; Indians, 35,000.

Posts—Kamloops and Fort Hope; locality, Indian territory, department, Western; district, Thompson river; Indians, 2,000.

Posts—Stuart Lake, McLeod Lake, Frazer Lake, Alexandria, Fort George, Baibnes and Connolly Lake; locality, Indian territory; department. Western; district. New Caledonia; Indians, 12,000.

Considering time and circumstances the Hudson Bay Company was the most perfect commercial organization ever operated on the American continent. No phase of its vast business was neglected. No element of success, no matter how small or questionable was forgotten. There was a local governor residing in America with headquarters at York factory, with jurisdiction over all the establishments of the company, together with sixteen chief factors, twenty-nine chief traders, five surgeons, eighty-seven clerks, sixty-seven postmasters, five hundred voyageurs, besides sailors on sea-going vessels, and over two thousand common servants engaged in trapping, mechanic arts, and farming. And besides this army of skilled white men, all armed for war, if war was necessary, was the vast population of native Indians who were at all times subservient to the company, furnished nearly the whole of its business in the furs caught and traded for goods. No exact amount can of course be given if its wide extended business, reaching from Hudson bay to the Pacific ocean, but an accounting by the company to its stockholders for four years commencing with 1834 and ending 1838 is interesting, as showing the vast business done, as follows:

1834 1835 1836 1837 Total
Beaver 98,288 79,908 46,063 82,927 307,186
Martin 64,490 61,005 52,749 156,118 334,362
Otter 22,303 15,487 8,432 15,934 62,156
Silver fox 1,063 910 471 2,147 4,592
Other foxes 8,876 8,710 1,924 822,086 342,361
Muskrat 649,192 1,111,616 160,906 738,549 2,660,263
Bear 7,457 4,127 1,715 8,763 22,062
Ermine 491 491
Fisher 5,296 2,479 1,327 6,115 15,117
Lynx 14,255 9,990 3,762 31,887 59,894
Mink 25,100 17,809 12,218 27,150 82,277
Wolf 8,484 3,722 307 7,301 19,544
Badger 1,000 698 201 754 2,662
Swan 7,918 4,703 12 6,660 19,233
Raccoon 713 522 99 585 1,191

Making a grand total of twenty-three million, four hundred and eighteen thousand, one hundred and nine animals destroyed in four years. If we multiply those figures by ten, we get an approximate estimate of the total destruction of animal life by this great company in the forty years of its hey-day of pros-