What do you think?
Rate this book
Hudson's Bay Company Adventures: Tales of Canada's Fur Traders
The early history of the Hudson's Bay Company comes alive in these true tales of fur-trade wars, incredible wilderness journeys, hardships and danger. Founded by the extraordinary adventurers and renegades Radisson and des Groseilliers, the HBC attracted many memorable characters. Explorer Henry Kelsey was the first European to see the buffalo herds. James Knight met a mysterious fate on a frozen northern island. Brave Isabel Gunn worked in the fur trade disguised as a man. Anyone who enjoys historical adventure will relish these exciting stories of Canada's oldest company.
128 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2003
4 people are currently reading
42 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
December 10, 2021
hodgepodge of stories regarding the founding and characters of the Hudson Bay Company. Most interesting was Chapter Six: Remarkable Adventures of the HBC where we learn about:
· Prince Rupert, nephew to King Charles I (later beheaded). Rupert at 22 was a warrior prince who thrived on adventure and intrigue. He led cavalry charges against the King's enemies and won every battle. He was a model of fashion and started the fad of tying a handkerchief around one's neck. As a swashbuckling privateer he roamed the African coasts to the Caribean. However he lost his fleet in a hurricane. He is credited with fashioning the first torpedo; the forerunners of the modern revolver and machine gun; created a new alloy of copper & zinc; a new way of making glass, that led to it being bulletproof; a new way of boring canon to make it shoot straigther; devised a naval quadrant for taking observations in rough seas; forged surgical instruments; and invented a diving machine. In 1666 raised the capital to fund Radisson and des Grosieillier's Hudson Bay Company.
· Thanadelthur was a brave Chippewan woman orator who brought peace with the Cree foes and forged an alliance to help establish the trading company. This intrepid interpeter and guide died at age 25.
· Henry Kelsey started out at 17 delivering letters for the HBC, on a 320 km trek. He was able to speak Cree and learned Inuit. He became the first western explorer to see muskox and later became Governor of all the forts.
· Isabel Gunn was 26 years old when she put on men's clothes and sailed from Orkney to Moose Factory and worked for the HBC as John Fubbister.
By 1820 the HBC (with 76 forts) and the Nortwest Company (with 97 forts) were both on the verge of bankruptcy. They merged to form one of the biggest commercial enterpises in the world. It expanded operations to link China, Hawaii, California and Russia. It diversified into Maritime shipping of coal and timber.
They were involved with transporting glacier ice to San Francisco from Alaska. 500 Tlingit were employed cutting a two mile channel through ice on the Stikine River; then carried blocks of ice one mile on their shoulders without the benefit of shoes or stockings. They would load 300 tons of blue ice per ship. Sales went so well there were half a dozen ships involved and shipments were extended to Hawaii and Hong Kong. Things started to go wrong; the cargo was melting during ocean voyages.
· Prince Rupert, nephew to King Charles I (later beheaded). Rupert at 22 was a warrior prince who thrived on adventure and intrigue. He led cavalry charges against the King's enemies and won every battle. He was a model of fashion and started the fad of tying a handkerchief around one's neck. As a swashbuckling privateer he roamed the African coasts to the Caribean. However he lost his fleet in a hurricane. He is credited with fashioning the first torpedo; the forerunners of the modern revolver and machine gun; created a new alloy of copper & zinc; a new way of making glass, that led to it being bulletproof; a new way of boring canon to make it shoot straigther; devised a naval quadrant for taking observations in rough seas; forged surgical instruments; and invented a diving machine. In 1666 raised the capital to fund Radisson and des Grosieillier's Hudson Bay Company.
· Thanadelthur was a brave Chippewan woman orator who brought peace with the Cree foes and forged an alliance to help establish the trading company. This intrepid interpeter and guide died at age 25.
· Henry Kelsey started out at 17 delivering letters for the HBC, on a 320 km trek. He was able to speak Cree and learned Inuit. He became the first western explorer to see muskox and later became Governor of all the forts.
· Isabel Gunn was 26 years old when she put on men's clothes and sailed from Orkney to Moose Factory and worked for the HBC as John Fubbister.
By 1820 the HBC (with 76 forts) and the Nortwest Company (with 97 forts) were both on the verge of bankruptcy. They merged to form one of the biggest commercial enterpises in the world. It expanded operations to link China, Hawaii, California and Russia. It diversified into Maritime shipping of coal and timber.
They were involved with transporting glacier ice to San Francisco from Alaska. 500 Tlingit were employed cutting a two mile channel through ice on the Stikine River; then carried blocks of ice one mile on their shoulders without the benefit of shoes or stockings. They would load 300 tons of blue ice per ship. Sales went so well there were half a dozen ships involved and shipments were extended to Hawaii and Hong Kong. Things started to go wrong; the cargo was melting during ocean voyages.
March 22, 2021
A great introductory look at the HBC, how they started, and the major players throughout their history. Andra-Warner does a good job at proceeding through the beats without straggling for too long on details - which is what I was looking for as a first glimpse into this corner of history. I'll be diving in to the history deeper with Stephen Bown's book "The Company" and by examining some of the journals and papers cited in this book.
May 17, 2021
Good entry point for junior historian
November 11, 2013
Good overview and very informative, great for homeschool Canadian history. We watched Empire of the Bay and visited the Canadian Canoe Museum, nice tie-ins! My only criticism is that the author switched from past tense to present when telling some stories, this was a bit of a distraction.
September 23, 2012
I read this book to my family on a camping trip in Northern Ontario (which seemed appropriate). It was a good little introduction the history of the HBC.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews