Autobiographical notes of John Macdonald of Garth.
| Database ID | 26368 | |
| Institution | University of Saskatchewan Libraries Special Collections | |
| Fonds/Collection | Morton Manuscripts Collection | |
| Series | MSS-C500 | |
| File/Item Reference | MSS-C500-4-8 (Box 4) | |
| Date of creation | 1859 | |
| Physical description/extent | 1 folder; .5 cm | |
| Number of images | 1 | |
| 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. John Macdonald of Garth (b. 1774?-d. 1860) was a partner in the North West Company from 1791 to 1816. | |
| Scope and content | File contains two volumes of notes written by Macdonald in his late eighties (110 pp). In his reminiscences he mentions such places as Grand Portage and Fort William, buffalo hunts and encounters with Aboriginals, particularly Cree. | |
| Restrictions on access | There are no restrictions on access. | |
| Contributer | Macdonald, John (author) | |
| 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 | |
| Provenance Access Point | Morton, A.S. | |
| Other notes | Copy of photostats in the National Archives. | |
| Treaty boundaries | Canada -- National | |
| Cultural region | Canada -- National | |
| Names | Macdonald of Garth, John | |
| Subject | Exploration Forts Fur Trade Hudson's Bay Company Hunting and Trapping North West Company | |
| Date Range(s) | 1776-1799 1800-1819 | |
| Permanent Link | https://digital.scaa.sk.ca/ourlegacy/permalink/26368
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