The Company of Adventurers

by Cowie, Isaac; Miller, David Reed

• ISBN13: 9780803263505
• ISBN10: 0803263503
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1993-03-01
• Publisher: Univ of Nebraska Pr

Summary

The Hudson's Bay Company had been operating for nearly two centuries when young Isaac Cowie joined it in 1867. He sailed from the Shetland Islands to Rupert's Land, finally reaching York Fac-tory, where he awaited his assignment. Company of Adventurers describes the early, lusty history of the HBC and the years of Cowie's service, when manufactured goods were driving out the demand for furs and buffalo hides. It contains rare information about the Assiniboin and Plains Crees Indians during the period before their confinement to reservations.Alive to the historical and ethnographic value of his writing, Cowie tells about his tenure as a clerk (later manager) at Fort Qu'Appelle in southern Saskatchewan, the colorful personalities who served with him, the wide-ranging fur brigades, remote outposts, and the Company's relations with Indian tribes. He was the first white man known to have set foot within the Swift Current District when in 1868 he hunted buffalo there. His dealings with the Métis during the Red River Rebellion placed him where history was being made.In an introduction to this Bison Book edition, David Reed Miller discusses how Cowie fitted into a great commercial enterprise and how he became a victim of unpleasant circumstances that forced his retirement in 1891. Miller is a professor in the Department of Indian Studies at Saskatchewan Indian Federated College, University of Regina.

Author Biography

David Reed Miller is a professor in the Department of Indian Studies at Saskatchewan Indian Federated College, University of Regina.

Table of Contents

Introduction to the Bison Book Edition	p. 9
Preface	p. 23
Foreword: To the Articles Which Were published in Saturday Issues of the Manitoba Free press From February 177h to December 14th, 1912	p. 27
Introduction	p. 31
The Orkney Islanders and Rupert's Land-- The Half Castes	p. 61
The prince Rupert--Her Crew, Cargo And passengers	p. 67
Across the Western Ocean	p. 79
Through Straits and Bay--The Hudson Bay Route	p. 88
York Factory	p. 100
From Inland Sea to Lake Inland--York Factory to Norway House	p. 115
Norway House and Across Lake Winnipeg	p. 132
In the Red River Settlement	p. 147
The Rise of Fort Garry and the Decline Of York Factory	p. 166
Swan River District	p. 178
Qu'Appelle	p. 194
A Buffalo ""provision post.""	p. 209
My Initiation	p. 223
A Winter Trip to the plains	p. 240
Wood Mountain, Old Wives' Creek, And Return Trip to Qu'Appelle	p. 253
The Close of the Fur Trade Year	p. 271
Outfit 1868 Begins--With Carts To Indian Camp	p. 283
The Camp of the Allied Tribes	p. 297
A Camp in Turmoil	p. 310
In the Midst of Alarms	p. 322
The Return Trip to the Fort	p. 335
The Late Summer of 1868 and Winter 1868-9	p. 344
History of Fort pelly and a Visit to It In 1868-69	p. 356
The Summer of 1869	p. 370
Last Mountain House, Winter 1869-70	p. 384
The Spring and Early Summer of 1870	p. 401
Fall of 1870, and Winter 1870-1	p. 414
The Summer and Fall of 1871	p. 425
Winter at Cyprè Hills, 1871-2	p. 432
In Full Charge of Qu'Appelle, Summer, 1872	p. 438
Spring and Summer, 1873	p. 455
Winter on the plain, 1873-74	p. 462
Appendix	p. 467
Index and Explanation Of Fur Trade Terms	p. 485
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