Nor’Wester Petition for an Exclusive Trade License, the North West Company

[The competition of the Pacific Fur Company in the Oregon region was keenly felt by the Nor’Westers. They petitioned the British Government in 1812 for an exclusive licence in the area, coupling their petition with a warning about American activities and the threat of possible co-operation with the Americans.]

It is the peculiar nature of the fur trade to require a continual extension of its limits, into new countries; because the number of animals diminishes in those countries where the trade has been for any considerable time, established, and if the trade cannot be occasionally extended into new and unexhausted districts, where furs are more abundant, the returns of it will not long be sufficient to support the expense of the requisite establishment.

As instances of the progressive extension of the trade, and at the same time of the diminution of the animals it may be sufficient to state that at the time of the conquest of Canada from the French the fur trade did not extend further into the interior than the vicinity of Lake Winnipic, and now the trading establishments of the North West Company, extend northward to the frozen ocean, and westward beyond the Rocky Mountains, yet the quantity of furs yielded by the trade is considerably less than at the former period.

This statement sufficiently demonstrates the necessity of the trade being still further extended, and the country beyond the Rocky Mountains, is the only outlet by which it can be so extended with advantage and success-that being the only part of the continent of North America, in which it is not already established, and the annual returns of furs consequently diminishing as the country becomes exhausted.

The expense of sending British manufactures and other supplies for the Indians, to so great a distance, is an insurmountable obstacle to the trade of this country being carried on through Canada.

The distance which these goods would have to be conveyed from Montreal to the Rocky Mountains, exceeds four thousand miles, following the course of the lakes and rivers by which the inland voyage is performed, and the expense is considerably above 200 per cent, on the original value, therefore the traders going over land from Canada, cannot possibly carry on the trade of that country, upon an equal footing with those who get their supplies of goods by sea to the north west coast, and from thence through the Columbia and other rivers, into the immediate scene of competition.

The North West Company therefore must abandon every hope of extending their trade beyond the mountains, and ultimately abandon the trade itself, as such extension is essential to its existence, unless they can arrange plans and form establishments for carrying it on through that channel, and unless they obtain a charter, or exclusive grant, of the trade of the country, for a certain terms of years, they cannot with any prudence or justice to themselves, or with any advantage to the nation; venture to embark in so extensive a concern . . . .

. . . A third part of the trade has been expressly offered to the North West Company, on condition of their joining the American Company, and it is thought if they were to accede to the proposal, a moiety or half of the whole would readily be given to them; in case such an arrangement should take place, the North West Company would of course participate in the benefits of the American charter, but they would also be under the necessity of recognizing the government of the United States, as the sovereigns of the country, and even be made the instruments of extending that sovereignty; but the well known loyalty and attachment of the North West Company to their Mother Country, has hitherto formed an insuperable obstacle to such a union, between the North West Company and the American Chartered Company, tho’ it would in many respects, conduce to the advantage of the North West Company, especially as they could then share in the benefit of a direct and unrestricted trade to China. The parties composing the North West Company are determined, that even that consideration shall not induce them to enter into any such arrangements, with the Americans, and if the proposed charter is granted to them, your memorialists trust the fur trade, and the possession of the country in which it is carried on, may yet be preserved to Great Britain.