Pedlar (fur trade)

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 French coureurs des bois who travelled inland to trade with the Indians as opposed to the HBC policy of building posts on Hudson Bay and waiting for the Indians to bring furs to them.

The Pedlars were important for three reasons. They were involved in the transfer of woodland skills from the French-Canadians to the English-speakers who dominated the trade in the nineteenth century. Whenever we see English or Scots names in the interior we must always remember that most of the voyageurs, guides and interpreters were French-Canadian or Métis. Knowledge of the country came ultimately from the native people through the Métis or interpreters. Second, it was their competition that forced the HBC to build posts inland which, after 1821, turned the HBC monopoly into an informal government for western Canada, which in turn led to the confederation of western and eastern Canada. Third, the Pedlars opened up much of the country west of Lake Winnipeg, although by the time trade approached the Rocky Mountains the Pedlars had been absorbed into the North West Company.

This gives the first dates some of the major English-speaking fur traders arrived in Canada. Note the concentration near the ends of the two wars. 1759:Quebec falls, William Grant (seigneur) (Scotland) 1760:Montreal falls, Richard Dobie (Scotland) George McBeath (Scotland) 1761:Alexander Henry the elder (New Jersey) 1763:Benjamin Frobisher and Joseph Frobisher (England) 1765: Peter Pond (Connecticut) 1766:James McGill (Scotland) 1767: Peter Pangman (New Jersey) 1769:Simon McTavish (Scotland) 1774: Nicholas Montour (New York), John Finlay (fur trader) (Canada) 1783: Angus Bethune (fur trader) (Canada) 1783?: Alexander MacKay (fur trader) (New York) 1784: Simon Fraser (explorer) (New York) David Thompson (explorer) (London) William McGillivray (Scotland)1785: Francis Badgley (merchant) (London) 1786: Angus Shaw (Scotland) 1788: Peter Fidler (explorer) (England) 1790: Peter Skene Ogden (Quebec) 1799: Daniel Williams Harmon (Vermont)

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