The history of Wells County, North Dakota, and its pioneers : with a sketch of North Dakota history and the oregin [sic] of the place names

• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: North Dakota State Library
• Subjects: Canada; Hudson; Hudson Bay
• Online Access: http://cdm16921.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/ndsl-books/id/41339

560 The North Dakota Indians Capt. Lewis of the Lewis and Clark Expedition had acquired some little knowledge of medicine and acted as the doctor of the expedition. It is of interest to know that when Sakakawea was sick in childbirth and the delayed birth of her son, Baptiste, at Fort Mandan in February, 1805, that Capt. Fewis gave her as a dose of medicine a quarter of a rattle of a rattlesnake dried and pulverized and that the child was born within ten minutes. FUR TRADING COMPANIES There were several fur trading- companies operating in Canada in pioneer days, most prominent of which were the Hudson Bay Company and the Northwest Fur Company, who were great rivals. The Hudson Bay Company was formed in England by London merchants in 1670, and was given unlimited rights by the British Crown in the monopoly of the trade with the natives of Hudson Bay, and their territory was till of Western Canada. It was the greatest factor in the exploration and development of that country and grew to be the richest and strongest financial institutions in all of Canada and is still in operation. Their money was called Hudson Bay Script. The Northwest Fur Company was organized by Canadian merchants in 1783, most of whom lived in Montreal and Quebec. Their franchise gave them the right to trade and barter with the Indians along the Great Lakes and in Manitoba. They were called Nor'westers. Their head men were called "Wardens of the Prairies." The men in charge of the trading posts were called chief factors and chief traders. Cameron, Campbell, Fraser. MacGillivray, Macintosh, MacKenzie, MacFeod, MacTavish. Froblisher, Robertson, and Walter Traill were some of the early traders through the Northwest in the employ of these companies. In 1780, a French-Canadian trader, whose name is now unknown, settled at the mouth of the Pembina River. The Northwest Company with Peter Grant, master, established a trading post opposite the mouth of the Pembina River in 1790. In 1797, C. J. B. Chaboillez built Fort Paubna (meaning a small fortification), for the Northwest Fur Company on the north bank of and near the mouth of the Pembina River. This was the first fort or trading post built by white men in North Dakota and is now the site of the city of Pembina. David Thompson, a young Welchman, entered the employ of Scanned with a Zeutschel Zeta book scanner at 300 dpi. Edited with Multi-Page TIFF Editor.