The Beaver Club was a gentleman's dining club founded in 1785 by the predominantly English-speaking men who had gained control of the fur trade of Montreal. According to the club's rules, the object of their meeting was "to bring together, at stated periods during the winter season, a set of men highly respectable in society, who had passed their best days in a savage country and had encountered the difficulties and dangers incident to a pursuit of the fur trade of Canada".[1] Only fragmentary records remain of their meetings, but from these it is clear that the Beaver Club was "an animated expression of the esprit de corps of the North West Company".[2] The men of the Beaver Club were the predecessors of Montreal's Square Milers.
A Canadian fur trader in 1777. Cartouche from William Faden, "A map of the Inhabited Part of Canada from the French Surveys; with the Frontiers of New York and New England", 1777John MacDonald of GarthA canoe of the rival Hudson's Bay Company in 1869, carrying the artist, Frances Anne Hopkins, and her husband, Edward Hopkins, secretary to the Governor of the Hudson's Bay Company, in similar style as to the partners of the North West CompanyAlexander Henry (1739–1824), vice-chairman of the Beaver Club, published his account of living with the Ojibwa and subsequent explorations (1760-76) before becoming a partner of the North West Company. He introduced John Jacob Astor to the Club and the fur trade at Montreal
In 18th century North America, the fur 'barons' of Montreal might only have been compared to the tobacco 'lords' of Virginia for their wealth and grand style of living.[3] The members of the Beaver Club were bon vivants, renowned for the Scottish Highland hospitality they offered to their guests and for the jovial, rollicking behaviour that carried on at their meetings.[4] In his entertaining book The Shoe and Canoe, the English geologist, John Bigsby, relates the character of these Montreal fur traders in their early days:
A number of young men, chiefly of good Scotch families, able, daring, and somewhat reckless perhaps (a typical example being John MacDonald of Garth), formed themselves into a company (the North West Company) in order to traffic in the forbidden land (owned by the Hudson's Bay Company) in spite of the charter.
A first-rate Indian trader is no ordinary man. He is a soldier-merchant, and unites the gallantry of the one with the shrewdness of the other. Montreal was then the best place for seeing this class of persons.. They spend fast, play all the freaks, pranks, and street-fooleries, and originate all the current whimsicalities: but this is their brief holiday: when they turn their faces westward, up stream, their manners change.
The Indian Trader is a bold, square-chested, gaunt man, sun-burnt, with extraordinary long hair as a defence against mosquitoes. He is equally at home on horseback or in the canoe - indefatigable when needful, careless of heat and cold, and brave as steel, as though he bore a charmed life, in countries where the Queen's writ scarcely runs, where the law only of personal authority takes effect. Often he has not only to contend with the Indians, and to right himself on the spot with other traders, but he has to fight his own men hand to hand. Kindness, vigour, and sagacity, usually render but one such affair necessary.[5]
In 1786, controlled by Simon McTavish and the Frobishers, there were 28 chief partners of the North West Company and their business was conducted by an army of about 2,000 men, not including the native Indians.[6]:65 That year they exported furs to the value of £203,378: 116,623 beaver skins and 473,534 other pelts.[7] As profits continued to soar, the chief partners of the North West Company retired from their expeditions into the wilderness to conduct their business with London and Paris from Montreal. Conducting themselves in suitable style, two or three of the chief partners would venture forth from Montreal to the annual meeting with the 'wintering (junior) partners' on the ground at Grand Portage (in what is now Minnesota) and Fort William (in what is now Ontario).
At Lachine, the Montreal partners boarded their immense canoes manned by voyageurs and hunters in Buckskins with bright silk bands around their heads and neck. The voyageurs were the most experienced canoe-men and wilderness travelers in the world, and the partners took a high pride in the skill of their hardy henchmen, giving each on their arrival a régale, which meant a gallon of rum. The partners took their seats conspicuously dressed in ruffles and gold braid, with brass-handled pistols and daggers at their belts. In 1894, Brian Hughes recalled his grandfather (James Hughes, admitted a member of the club in 1813) recounting his memories of these partners journeying into the wilds:
They traversed the rivers in great state, like sovereigns making a progress. They were wrapped in rich furs, their huge canoes freighted with every convenience and luxury and manned by Canadian voyageurs as loyal and as obedient as their own ancestral clansmen. They carried with them cooks and bakers, together with delicacies of every kind, and an abundance of choice wine for the banquets.[6]:72
The men of the Beaver Club had a great reputation for hospitality and generosity, which led to many of them frittering away their fortunes. One such example was Nicholas Montour, who retired as a partner of the North West Company in 1792 with a fortune of £20,000. He purchased a seigneury, that ought to have furthered his fortune, but not before too long his style of living coupled with a free and generous disposition to his guests left him with nothing other than his manor house. In 1808, John Lambert recalled in reference to Montour:
This too often happens with the gentlemen of the North-west company who retire from the concern. They emerge suddenly into civilized life after a banishment of many years in dreary forests and among a race of savages; and are apt to be dazzled by the glare of refinement and luxury, whose temptations are too powerful to be resisted. Hence they are frequently led into error and extravagance, which ultimately despoil them of their hard-earned property.[8]
Traditions
Beaver Hall, the home of Joseph Frobisher. Built in 1792, the dining room comfortably sat 40 guests.In 1824, Lord Dalhousie wrote in his diary: "Upon the whole I don't recollect having ever spent a more pleasant or more interesting day than that with the Beaver Club"
At first, the nineteen incorporators of the Beaver Club maintained a rigid exclusiveness over its membership, but later their ranks were opened and the limit of membership was placed at fifty-five with ten honorary places. At the regular gatherings an opportunity was offered of introducing into society such traders as might from time to time return from the Indian country. Potential members were selected by ballot on the basis of their standing and character and then invited as a guest to one of the gatherings. Following the dinner, a vote was taken and only if approved of unanimously would they then be invited to join the Club.[3] The vast majority of them were Highland Scots, but they were joined by French Canadians (the five most senior of the original members had been French Canadian), Englishmen, Irishmen and Loyalists, all "thoroughly cosmopolitan by taste and association".[3]
The first dinner of their season was held on the first Wednesday in December. Following that fortnightly meetings were held until April between private houses (notably at Beaver Hall, the home of Joseph Frobisher, whose dining table comfortably sat forty guests) and at various hotels and taverns in Montreal. These included the Mansion House Hotel and the City Tavern, both on Rue Saint-Paul; Richard Dillon's Montreal Hotel on the Place d'Armes; Palmer's Hummums and Tesseyman's.
Records are scant, but the guests known to have attended included Lord Selkirk, General Sir Gordon Drummond, General Sir Isaac Brock, Washington Irving, General Sir Roger Sheaffe, Sir John Franklin, Thomas Moore, John Jacob Astor and Lord Dalhousie. The last named recorded in his diary: "Upon the whole I don't recollect having ever spent a more pleasant or more interesting day than that with the Beaver Club".[9] In gratitude to member James Hughes, with whom he was staying with in Montreal, Dalhousie gave him a silver snuff box with gold trim, bearing the inscription: "The Earl of Dalhousie to James Hughes, Esq., in remembrance of the Beaver Club, May 24, 1824".[10]
The dinners commenced at 4:00 in the afternoon. Members arrived richly adorned in ruffles and a profusion of goldlace with knee-breeches above their gold-clasped garters and silver-buckled shoes. But, most importantly they wore the club's large gold medal with the inscription "Fortitude in Distress", that hung from a light blue ribbon around their necks.
The start of the festivities were marked by the passing around of a calumet, followed by a speech or 'harangue' made by the evening's president. Toasts were then made, and there were always five to: The Mother of all Saints; the King; the fur trade in all its branches; voyageurs, wives and children; and absent members. Then, accompanied by Highland Pipers, on a dais of red velvet a flaming boar's head was brought into the dining room, a piece of camphor having been placed in its mouth before the grand entrance.[11] The members and their guests were then permitted to pursue their own pleasures.[2]
After dinner, any previous formalities were laid aside as the men started to sing old voyageur songs and exchange tales about their perilous adventures in the old fur trading days. The festivities often ran into the early hours of the morning with the members dancing on the tables, re-enacting various canoeing adventures and breaking numerous bottles, plates, glasses and chairs in the process. There were many stories of the members arranging themselves on the floor in a row as if they were in a great canoe, imitating vigorous paddling (using fire pokers, swords, walking sticks etc., for paddles) and mounting winebarrels to "shoot the rapids" from the table to the floor.[12] At one such dinner, twenty members (including Sir Alexander Mackenzie and William McGillivray) were still singing and dancing at 4am, and close to 120 bottles of wine were either drunk, broken or spilled that night.[11]
The bill for this meeting was: 32 dinners (£12); 29 bottles of Madeira (6/); 19 bottles of Port (5/); 14 bottles of Porter (2/6); 12 quarts of Ale (8/); 7 suppers (8/9); Brandy and Gin (2/6); Cigars, pipes, tobacco (5/); Three wine glasses broken (3/9). Total: £28.15/.[2]
All the names below appeared in Rules and Regulations of the Beaver Club, 1819, when only one of the original members was still alive. The nineteen original members were ranked in seniority by the date on which they had first entered the interior of Canada. As such, the French Canadian fur traders who had remained in the business after the British Conquest of New France held the most senior rank. In that order, with the dates in brackets of their first adventures into the Canadian wilderness, the original nineteen members were:
New members were elected almost every year from 1787, though the dates of their first voyages into the interior were not always recorded. The list below shows new members inducted by year, and if known the year of their first voyage in brackets:
1814: Archibald McLellan (who won an award for bravery); George Moffat; W. McRae; Henry McKenzie.
1815: Jasper Tough; J.M. Lamothe (1799); F.A. LaRocque; Thomas McMurray; Robert Henry; Peter Warren Dease; Charles Grant.
1816: David Stuart.
1817: William Henry; Jacob Franks (1799); David David (1807); John McLaughlin (1807); Hugh McGillis; John McDonald; Allan McDonell; James Grant; John Siveright (1799); John George MacTavish.
Finally, there were eleven honorary members, many of whom were the captains of the ships who transported their furs back to England. They could only attend at meetings held especially for them in the summer months. The dates in brackets show the year of their admission:
Captain Featonby of the Eweretta (1789); Captain Gibson of the Integrity (1789); Monsieur le Compte Andriani, of Milan (1791); Captain Edwards of the Indian Trader (1792); Colonel Daniel Robertson, of Struan (1793); Major-General Sir John Doyle (1796); Captain Edward Boyd of the Montreal (1800); Captain Alexander Patterson of the Eweretta (1800); Major George Clerk, of the 49th Regiment (1807); Lord Viscount Chabot (1808), Quartermaster General of Canada; Captain Sarmon of the Mary (1808).
Decline
As trading posts were built it had become less dangerous to travel in the wilderness, and without competitors' territories to invade, the early spirit of adventure had disappeared from newcomers to the fur trade. By 1809, the seventy-year-old Alexander Henry hinted at a segregation between the young and old members in a letter to John Askin: "There is only us four old friends (himself, James McGill, Isaac Todd and Joseph Frobisher) alive, all the new North westards are a parcel of Boys and upstarts, who were not born in our time, and supposes they know much more of the Indian trade than any before them".[13]
The club continued to meet until 1804, and there was a resurgence of interest between 1807 and 1824, but when Sir George Simpson tried to revive its traditions in 1827 it was doomed to failure – the spirit enjoyed by the earlier traders had gone.[1] However, several members, such as Angus Shaw, Robert Dickson, William McGillivray and John Forsyth became members of the smaller Canada Club in London (founded in 1810, and still extant), where meetings in the 1830s were reminiscent of the old Beaver Club.[14]
Alexander Henry 'The Elder' was an American-born explorer, author, merchant who settled in Quebec following the Conquest of New France and was a partner in the North West Company and a founding member and vice-chairman of the Beaver Club. From 1763 to 1764, he lived and hunted with Wawatam of the Ojibwe, who had adopted him as a brother.
The North West Company was a fur trading business headquartered in Montreal from 1779 to 1821. It competed with increasing success against the Hudson's Bay Company in the regions that later became Western Canada and Northwestern Ontario. With great wealth at stake, tensions between the companies increased to the point where several minor armed skirmishes broke out, and the two companies were forced by the British government to merge.
Sir Alexander Mackenzie was a Scottish explorer and fur trader known for accomplishing the first crossing of North America in 1793. The Mackenzie River and Mount Sir Alexander are named after him.
Peter Pond was an American explorer, cartographer, merchant and soldier who was a founding member of the North West Company and the Beaver Club. Though he was born and died in Milford, Connecticut, most of his life was spent in northwestern North America, on the upper Mississippi and in western Canada.
Sir George Simpson was a Scottish explorer and colonial governor of the Hudson's Bay Company during the period of its greatest power. From 1820 to 1860, he was in practice, if not in law, the British viceroy for the whole of Rupert's Land, an enormous territory of 3.9 millions square kilometers corresponding to nearly forty percent of modern-day Canada.
Simon McTavish, of Montreal was a Scottish-born fur trader and the chief founding partner of the North West Company. He was a member of the Beaver Club and was known as the Marquis for his pre-eminent position in the fur trade and his refined style of living.
Lt.-Colonel William McKay is remembered for leading the Canadian Forces to victory at the Siege of Prairie du Chien during the War of 1812. After the war, he was appointed Superintendent of Indian Affairs at Drummond Island in what was then Upper Canada. Previous to the war, McKay was a noted fur trader who had travelled widely in Canada. He was a partner of the North West Company and a member of the Beaver Club at Montreal, Quebec. He was a brother of Alexander McKay, who accompanied Sir Alexander Mackenzie to the Pacific Ocean in 1793.
The Hon. John Richardson was a Scots-Quebecer and arguably Montreal's leading businessman in his time. In trade, he was in partnership with his first cousin, John Forsyth. A member of the Beaver Club, he established the XY Company and co-founded the Bank of Montreal. A staunch Conservative and Royalist, he represented Montreal East in the 1st Parliament of Lower Canada; assuming the role of the voice of the merchants and appointed an honorary member of the Executive Council of Lower Canada. An intellectual, he was President of the Natural History Society of Montreal and well read in modern and ancient history, law, economics, and British poetry. He was a generous patron to both the Presbyterian and the Anglican Churches, and the first President of the Montreal General Hospital, where the west wing was named for him.
The Hon. Joseph Frobisher M.P., J.P., was one of Montreal's most important fur traders. He was elected to the 1st Parliament of Lower Canada and was a seigneur with estates totalling 57,000 acres. He was a founding member of the North West Company and the Beaver Club, of which he was chairman. From 1792, his country seat, Beaver Hall, became a centre of Montreal society.
Angus Shaw was a fur trader and political figure in Lower Canada.
Lt.-Colonel The Hon. William McGillivray, of Chateau St. Antoine, Montreal, was a Scottish-born fur trader who succeeded his uncle as the last chief partner of the North West Company until a merger between the NWC and her chief rival - the Hudson Bay Company. He was elected a member of the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada and afterwards was appointed to the Legislative Council of Lower Canada. In 1795, he was inducted as a member into the Beaver Club. During the War of 1812 he was given the rank of lieutenant colonel in the Corps of Canadian Voyageurs as he was the highest up in the NWC's business hierarchy; the ranks of the Corps reflected one's position within the NWC as the Company had created the Corps under their own volition, and using employees as soldiers. He owned substantial estates in Scotland, Lower and Upper Canada. His home in Montreal was one of the early estates of the Golden Square Mile. McGillivray Ridge in British Columbia is named for him, as well as a handful of elementary schools in Ontario, Quebec, or British Columbia.
Sturgeon-Weir River is a river in east-central Saskatchewan, Canada. It flows about 130 kilometres (81 mi) south-southeast to join the Saskatchewan River at Cumberland House, Saskatchewan. It was on the main voyageur route from eastern Canada northeast to the Mackenzie River basin. The river is a popular wilderness canoe route in Canada.
This article covers the water based Canadian canoe routes used by early explorers of Canada with special emphasis on the fur trade.
Voyageurs were 18th and 19th century French Canadians who transported furs by canoe at the peak of the North American fur trade. The emblematic meaning of the term applies to places and times where that transportation was over long distances. The voyageurs' strength and endurance was regarded as legendary. They were celebrated in folklore and music. For reasons of promised celebrity status and wealth, this position was coveted.
Pedlar is a term used in Canadian history to refer to English-speaking independent fur traders from Montreal who competed with the Hudson's Bay Company in western Canada from about 1770 to 1803. After 1779 they were mostly absorbed by the North West Company. The name was first used by the Hudson's Bay Company to refer to French coureurs des bois, who travelled inland to trade with the Indians in their villages and camps. This was in contrast to the HBC policy of building posts on Hudson Bay, to where the Indians would bring furs to trade with them.
Charles-Jean-Baptiste Chaboillez, of Montreal, was one of the most influential French Canadian fur traders after the British Conquest of New France and a founding member of the Beaver Club. Chaboillez Square in Montreal was named for his nephew, The Hon. Louis Chaboillez, in 1813.
John MacDonald of Garth was a colourful character involved in the Canadian fur trade. He was an enthusiastic duellist and a shrewd businessman who became a partner in the North West Company and a member of the Beaver Club at Montreal, Lower Canada. In an account of his exploits, he was described as having "indomitable courage... brave, reckless and domineering, with a decided tendency to seek redress with his own hands," characteristics that made him well-suited to his profession. Built in 1816, his home, Inverarden House, near Cornwall, Upper Canada, was later designated a National Historic Site of Canada. According to the 1997 book Lords of the North, by James McDonell and Robert Campbell, the Hotel Macdonald in Edmonton, Alberta was named for him.
The Pemmican War was a series of armed confrontations during the North American fur trade between the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) and the North West Company (NWC) in the years following the establishment of the Red River Colony in 1812 by Lord Selkirk. It ended in 1821 when the NWC merged with the HBC.
Lt.-Colonel The Hon. Roderick Mackenzie of Terrebonne was a prominent Canadian fur trader, landowner and politician. He was a partner in the North West Company and a member of the Beaver Club at Montreal. He was a lifelong friend and the private confidant of his first cousin, Sir Alexander Mackenzie. He was an intellectual who established a library at Fort Chipewyan and both wrote and published works on the fur trade. In 1801 he made his home at Terrebonne, Quebec, purchasing the Seigneury in 1814, although he was forced by a court action to relinquish his title to the property in 1824. He continued to live there until his death. He held many public appointments, most notably as a member of the Legislative Council of Lower Canada.
Lac Île-à-la-Crosse is a Y-shaped lake in the north-central region of the Canadian province of Saskatchewan on the Churchill River. At the centre of the Y is the town of Île-à-la-Crosse, the second oldest town in Saskatchewan. The Churchill exits the north-east arm and flows east to Hudson Bay through a series of lakes. The Churchill enters at the north-west arm called Aubichon Arm or Deep River. Upstream it leads north-west to Athabasca Country passing Churchill Lake, Peter Pond Lake, Lac La Loche and on to the Methye Portage leading to Lake Athabasca.
↑ Jo-Anne Fiske; William Wicken (1995). New faces of the fur trade: selected papers of the Seventh North American Fur Trade Conference. Halifax, Nova Scotia.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
↑ Marjory Harper. Emigrant Homecomings: The Return Movement of Emigrants, 1600-2000.
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