After the early dominance of the Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) in the development of the nation that became Canada, it seems sad to note the financial instability being experienced by that centuries-old corporation.
While many of us may think of HBC as a prominent department store that has stood since 1922 on Douglas Street in Victoria, that period represents only its later history.
In 1670, HBC was formed by a group of British investors. Its main function was to encourage the Indigenous Nations of eastern Canada to hunt for pelts (mainly beaver) so that the company could purchase the skins for clothing production for the international market.
The company's fortunes went up and down over the decades as the fur trade moved across the continent and competed with John Jacob Astor’s enterprise. Trading posts were established across Canada, notably Winnipeg and Fort Vancouver on the Columbia River.
In 1846, the international boundary was established at the 49th parallel by the Oregon Treaty, enacted at Champoeg in the Willamette Valley in what is now Oregon. This meant the HBC base at Fort Vancouver needed to move its headquarters north to remain under “the Crown.” Surveying southern Vancouver Island, Chief Factor James Douglas selected Camosun in 1843, which became the city of Victoria.
HBC needed coal to fuel its vessels, so Vancouver Island became significant in the search. Northern Vancouver Island and the Nanaimo area were featured locations in what became a prominent coal mining industry. During this period, the Scottish Dunsmuir family became the coal barons of British Columbia.
Prior to the Dunsmuirs' arrival, the John Muir family from Scotland had become indentured to the HBC and sailed to the New World in 1849 to work in the coal industry. Eventually, this led to the John Muir family settling in what became Sooke in 1851, where they developed leading enterprises, including Woodside Farm.
The HBC’s business dominance extended up the Island’s west coast, and to the Pacheedaht Peoples at what we call Port Renfrew. Queesto, born in 1876, and hereditary chief of the Pacheedaht when he was interviewed in 1981, spoke of his grandfather’s life. He said that his grandfather, also Chief Queesto, used to go out fishing for dogfish. They brought back canoe loads, which were then processed by their female slaves, who would take the liver out and then “cook the carcass to get the oil out.” Then they would put the oil in barrels and bring them by canoe to the HBC in Victoria, where they would “exchange the dogfish oil for blankets or for food like rice, beans, molasses and sugar.”
His grandfather used two other trading posts at Sooke and at Becher Bay. Queesto himself became a legendary and dignified raconteur, sharing his memories until passing away in 1990.
Elida Peers, historian
Sooke Region Museum
