The Journal of Duncan M'Gillivray of the North West Company at Fort George on the Saskatchewan, 1794-5 (with introduction, notes and appendix.) by Arthur S. Morton / Professor of History, University of Saskatchewan.
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| Database ID | 26322 | |
| Institution | University of Saskatchewan Libraries Special Collections | |
| Fonds/Collection | Morton Manuscripts Collection | |
| Series | MSS-C500 | |
| File/Item Reference | MSS-C500-4-12-2 (Box 5) | |
| Date of creation | 1794-1795 | |
| Physical description/extent | 1 book; 28.5 cm x 21 cm | |
| Number of images | 190 | |
| Historical note | The North West Company, a Canadian fur-trading company, was once the chief rival of the powerful Hudson's Bay Company. The company was founded in 1783 and enjoyed a rapid growth. It originally confined its operations to the Lake Superior region and the valleys of the Red, Assiniboine, and Saskatchewan rivers but later spread north and west to the shores of the Arctic and Pacific oceans. It even penetrated the area then known as the Oregon Country, where it constructed posts in what are now the U.S. states of Washington and Idaho. Its wilderness headquarters was located first at Grand Portage on Lake Superior and after 1805 at Fort William (also on Lake Superior, at the site of the present city of Thunder Bay, Ontario). Competition with the Hudson's Bay Company became especially intense when that company established the colony of Assiniboia on the Red River (in present-day Manitoba) in 1811-1812, across the North West Company's line of communications. A few years later, open conflict broke out, during which North West Company men destroyed the Red River colony (see Seven Oaks Massacre) and Hudson's Bay Company men destroyed the North West Company post of Fort Gibraltar (located on the site of modern Winnipeg, Manitoba) and captured Fort William. Under pressure from the British government, the old North West Company and the Hudson's Bay Company were merged in 1821 under the name and charter of the latter company. The New North West Company, or XY Company, had a brief existence (1798-1804) as a competitor of the old North West Company before being absorbed by the latter. In the late 1700's and early 1800's, rivalry between the North West Company and the Hudson's Bay Company pushed their posts further and further west up the Saskatchewan River. In 1792, they both built forts at a site on the north bank of the North Saskatchewan, SE of present-day Elk Point, AB. The HBC called their post Buckingham House, and the Nor'westers christened their establishment Fort George. Duncan M'Gillivray, fur trader and author; b. in Scotland, probably in the early 1770s; d. 9 April 1808 in Montreal, Lower Canada. | |
| Scope and content | This file contains a copy of Duncan M'Gillivray's journal and includes an introduction, notes, and appendix on the later history of Fort George by Arthur S. Morton. The journal along with the lengthy introduction and appendix provides an account of the lives of some of the men who were clerks and wintering partners in the North West Company. Their relationships and encounters with Indians are described, as well as trading systems and daily life at Fort George on the North Saskatchewan during the season of 1794-1795. | |
| Contributer | Duncan M'Gillivray (author) Morton, Arthur Silver | |
| Copyright holder | Public domain | |
| Copyright expiry date | Public domain | |
| Other terms governing use and reproduction | Responsibility regarding questions of copyright that may arise in the use of any images is assumed by the researcher. | |
| Type | Archival | |
| Primary Media | Textual documents | |
| Specific document types | Diaries | |
| Provenance Access Point | Morton, A.S. | |
| Other notes | See also: 500/4/12.1, /12.3, and /12.4. See FC3212.41 .M138A3 1929 for the published monograph, and a detailed index of the Journal. See "Some account of the trade carried on by the North West Company" (Special Collections:500/4/10) and "On the origin and progress of the North West Company of Canada, with a history of the fur trade ... (Special Collections: 500/4/11.1) " for related material. | |
| Treaty boundaries | Treaty 6 | |
| Cultural region | Plains | |
| Names | Henry, Alexander M'Gillivray, Duncan Shaw, Angus Thompson, David, 1770-1857 (English explorer) Thomson, John Tomison, William | |
| Subject | Children Chiefs Exploration Fishing Forts Fur Trade Hudson's Bay Company Hunting and Trapping Shelter and temporary camps Women Transportation -- Canoe/Kayak A'aninin (Gros Ventre) Blackfoot Confederacy - Siksika (Blackfoot proper) Piegan Amskapi Pikuni Blackfoot Confederacy - Kainai (Blood) Wildlife - Buffalo | |
| Date Range(s) | 1776-1799 | |
| Permanent Link | https://digital.scaa.sk.ca/ourlegacy/permalink/26322
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