"Any ordinary degree of system" : the Columbia Department of the Hudson's Bay Company and the harvesting of wildlife, 1825-1849
Date
1988
Authors
Hammond, Lorne Foster
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Abstract
The thesis presents a layered analysis of the collection, export and auction of wildlife in the Columbia Department in the years 1825-1849. This regional study was undertaken both as a practical inquiry into the history of the North West and as an examination of the functioning of an existing model of the fur trade. The work is unusual in that it does not focus on the movement of trade goods into the region, but on the movement of furs out of the area. Several general conclusions result from this approach: that the 1842-47 collapse of the beaver market may be an event of historical importance for future comparative studies of fur trade relations; that throughout the 1830-1840, the Hudson's Bay Company was successful in imposing a degree of system over its Columbia operations, which, if viewed from the perspective of the London Committee, reveals a company attempting to extend its managerial control through improved information channels and a standardization of products; and that fur trade studies could benefit by examining the broader external context of the evolution of business, shipping, and marketing practises.
The thesis proceeds through an examination of the local wildlife resource, the establishment of collection centres, how the transportation system functioned, and how the furs were sold in London. The first chapter examines the outflow of products through modelling theory. The second shows how the striving for a systematic basis of business was both constrained and aided by the nature of the resource being harvested and its characteristics and discusses the process by which the Company identified a species as a potential product. The unusual role of wildlife demographics is also discussed, linking existing biological research to the fur trade. A broad range of wildlife products is also traced. Chapter Three discusses the policy and conflicts related to the placement of posts and their distinct responses to various ecological hinterlands, arguing that the species mix was critical to a post's ability to adapt to changing markets. Within the Columbia Department posts often competed with one another, and with Native traders, for control of the profit component of the trade as well as for the physical furs. Chapter Four presents the problems involved in shipping the returns to London, some of which were unique to the Columbia and some which were shared with other divisions of the Company. While the Columbia transportation system was generally reliable, delays and the constraints of the shipping season increased the complexity of Company business affairs in London in an unforeseen manner. The Company's drive to standardize products against the general background of change in nineteenth century business methods is stressed. Chapter Five deals with the European marketing of the furs, arguing that the auction served both as a buffer against market forces for the post and trapper and as a means of regulating the cyclical fluctuations of supply. However, due to the structural constraints on information and the Company's pragmatic, though limited understanding of the cycles, it intervened in the shipping process only at the level of the depot, and only when faced with massive increases in some species. It did not restrict trade at the level of the post. The Company's plan for achieving a dominant control over the marketplace through the conservation of beaver stocks was shattered by the collapse of the beaver market, which caused the Company to intercede at the level of the post, redirecting which species were harvested and creating unrest among Native trappers. The Company was involved throughout this period in a struggle to establish a degree of system into the complex matter of harvesting the wildlife of the Columbia Department.