Assiniboine River fur trade facts for kids

The fur trade was a big business in North America for hundreds of years. It involved trading animal furs, especially beaver, for goods like tools and weapons. On the Assiniboine River and in the areas west of Lake Winnipeg, fur trading started as early as 1731. This region was very important for getting furs and also for supplying food, like pemmican, to traders further north.

Geography of the Fur Trade

Map showing the Assiniboine River and surrounding areas important for the fur trade.

Lake Winnipeg was a key meeting point for many fur trade routes. Imagine it as a busy highway intersection for canoes! To the southeast, a route led to Grand Portage and then to Montreal, a major French trading center. To the northeast, the Hayes River took traders to the English base on Hudson Bay. To the northwest, the Saskatchewan River led west all the way to the Rocky Mountains. From there, another path went even further northwest to the very rich Athabasca Country.

West of Lake Winnipeg, there's a chain of lakes that look like one big lake on maps. These are Cedar Lake (Manitoba), Lake Winnipegosis, and Lake Manitoba. West of these lakes is the Assiniboine River. The Assiniboine flows southeast, then east, until it reaches Winnipeg, Manitoba. Here, it joins the Red River of the North, which flows north into Lake Winnipeg. Further west, the Qu'Appelle River flows east to meet the Assiniboine.

The Assiniboine River mostly flows through prairies. This meant it wasn't the best place for beaver, which prefer forested areas. Instead, the Assiniboine region was famous for producing buffalo pemmican. This dried meat was a super important food source for the voyageurs (fur traders) who traveled further north. Because parts of the Assiniboine River were shallow and winding, traders often used horses, dog sleds, and later carts, alongside canoes, to move goods. Most of the valuable beaver furs came from the forests along the upper Assiniboine. This area was usually reached by traveling up the Swan River from Lake Winnipegosis.

History of Fur Trading

French Period (Before 1763)

In 1691, an explorer named Henry Kelsey reached the upper Assiniboine from Hudson Bay. Then, in 1731, La Vérendrye started expanding French trade and exploration west from Lake Superior. He built several forts to help with this. These included Fort Maurepas (Canada) at the mouth of the Red River in 1734, Fort Rouge in Winnipeg in 1738, and Fort La Reine on the Assiniboine in 1738.

French explorers even traveled to the Mandan country and as far as Wyoming. At first, they hoped the Assiniboine River would lead them to the Pacific Ocean. But when they realized it didn't, they focused their attention north on the Saskatchewan River, building forts like Fort de la Corne in 1753. The French were very successful in taking fur trade away from Hudson Bay and sending it to Montreal. The English, who had their main base on Hudson Bay, responded by sending their own traders inland to compete.

English Period (After 1763)

The fur trade in the west slowed down during the British takeover of Canada. However, it quickly picked up again with English-speaking traders. These traders, often called "Pedlars", eventually joined forces to create the powerful North West Company (NWC). The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), the main English company, fought back by building their own trading posts further inland. They started with Cumberland House, Saskatchewan in 1774.

The competition between the HBC and NWC led to a huge growth in trade and exploration. This intense rivalry continued until the two companies merged in 1821. Pedlars reached Lake Winnipeg by 1767 and Fort des Épinettes, west of Lake Manitoba, by 1768. By the 1770s, they were trading on the lower Saskatchewan River. The NWC reached the Swan River in 1787. In the 1790s, many posts were built on the upper Assiniboine.

In 1787, the NWC built Fort Espérance on the Qu'Appelle River. In the 1790s, other important posts like Brandon House and Fort Montagne à la Bosse were built on the middle Assiniboine. From these posts, traders also did business with the Mandan people. In 1805, there was even communication between the Assiniboine posts and the famous Lewis and Clark Expedition.

In 1811, the Red River Colony was founded, which led to serious conflicts, including the Battle of Seven Oaks in 1816. After 1821, when the HBC and NWC merged, many of the smaller posts on the upper Assiniboine were closed. Trade then focused on larger posts like Fort Pelly, located at the Swan River portage. In 1831, Fort Ellice was built at the mouth of the Qu'Appelle River and later became even more important than Fort Pelly.

Over time, the Carlton Trail grew into a major overland route heading west from Winnipeg. By around 1870, St. Paul, Minnesota had a large population, and there was a long cart trail connecting it to Winnipeg. The arrival of railroads and more settlers in the 1880s changed the fur trade forever, making it less reliant on rivers and traditional routes.

Important Trading Posts

Here is a list of some of the main trading posts on the Assiniboine and lower Red River. The distances are rough straight-line measurements from the previous post listed.

Upper Assiniboine and Swan River Fur Trade

A map showing the location of various fur trading posts along the Assiniboine River.

From before 1787 until 1821, many trading posts were built on the upper Assiniboine and Swan River. These posts are not always well-documented, so their exact locations are sometimes unclear. The upper Assiniboine River was shallow, twisting, and had many sand bars. Because of this, the area was usually reached by traveling up the Swan River. The route went from Lake Winnipegosis up the short Shoal River to Swan Lake. Then, traders went up the Swan River to its bend and crossed an easy portage (a land route) to the Assiniboine River, near where Fort Pelly was later built.

Since this area was much closer to Hudson Bay than to Montreal, the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) had a big advantage over the North West Company (NWC) here.

One of the first traders in the area was William Bruce, an independent trader from Montreal. He set up an unnamed post on the Shoal River. In 1787, Robert Grant of the NWC built Swan River Fort on the north bank of the Swan River. In 1790, Charles Isham of the HBC built Swan River House nearby. Around 1793, the NWC built another post between the Swan and Assiniboine rivers.

In 1793, Isham built Marlboro House (HBC) on the Assiniboine River. In the same year, Cuthbert Grant of the NWC built Bird Mountain House upstream. In 1794, Isham built Somerset House (HBC) a bit further up. This area was a popular wintering spot for buffalo. Somerset House was so successful that it made Swan River House less important.

In 1795, the NWC built posts right next to Swan River House and Somerset House. Around the same time, Isham and Peter Fidler built Carlton House (HBC) about 15 miles west of the river's "elbow." In 1795, the NWC built Fort Alexandria, which was near Sturgis, Saskatchewan. John Sutherland built Albany House (HBC) after moving from the Shell River. There were also some "South Men" who came from the area around Duluth, but not much is known about them.

The area soon became "trapped out," meaning there were not many animals left to trap. The HBC closed Swan River House and Somerset House between 1799 and 1807, briefly reopening them in 1807-08. The NWC continued to operate, but all posts in the area closed in 1821 when the two companies merged. The region continued to be called "Swan River District" and was managed from Fort Pelly starting in 1824.

See Also

• Fur trade
• Pemmican
• Hudson's Bay Company
• North West Company