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Fish, Food and the Fur Trade: The use of Hudson’s Bay Company’s post journals for Moose Factory, Cumberland House, Edmonton House, Fort Athabasca, and Ile a la Crosse to reconstruct the provisioning of fish, fowl and game, ca. 1777 - 1827
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- Author / Creator
- Melnick, Loriena
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Most historical research of the fur trade era has focused on the trade of fur and there has been limited recognition of the use of fish for non-commodity uses. Fish were not a commodity that the Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) traded for the purpose of exporting back to Europe as had been done with furs. In many parts in Canada, it is theorized that fish in addition to fur was utilized as a trade commodity between Indigenous peoples and the HBC. Due to its reliability and caloric content, fish was a key resource, depended upon, and was exploited year-round by peoples who habituated these regions given local fisheries were able to sustain and support large communities. As less is known about the role of fish in the diet and trade of the HBC and Indigenous peoples, this research explores this lesser known aspect of the trade. Through a series of regional case studies based on HBC post journals of daily occurrences, the significance of freshwater fish to the mercantile fur trade is determined by examining the role of fish in the staple diet, work routines, and trading strategies of HBC fur traders in central Canada between the years of 1777 to 1827, including Fort Athabasca, Cumberland House, Ile a la Crosse, Moose Factory, and Edmonton House. In addition to district reports and account books, post journals offer a complementary depiction of the extent of post dependency on local fisheries, while reflecting HBC’s dependence on enlisting Indigenous labour to supply food, such as fish and game, to posts as a key foodstuff to sustain post servants. Post journals offer an excellent case study of this lesser known aspect of the trade and this research is the first to attempt to make these important linkages.Many Indigenous peoples in Canada took advantage of the new economic opportunities presented by the HBC during the fur trade era, and over time substituted subsistence activities with wage labour. By presenting statistical analyses of anecdotal written evidence found in post journals, this research establishes that Indigenous peoples participated in a commercial system with HBC during study period, providing fish to post servants as a foodstuff rather than for goods to export back to London. Results indicate that HBC sought fish from Indigenous peoples to varying degrees at Moose Fort, Cumberland House, and Fort Athabasca to supplement available protein stores. Although the primary focus of this research was on fish, a multitude of game such as geese, moose, deer, and bison were also dietary staples at all five posts. Therefore, this research also examined the Indigenous contribution of game and general provisions to demonstrate the overall dependency on the overall Indigenous procurement of protein sources in comparison to other resources. The results of this research found substantial evidence that Indigenous peoples were closely involved in providing game and provisions at all posts examined. Furthermore, it is also likely that Indigenous peoples involved in this economic opportunity received some form of livelihood in exchange for their labour. But as with the trade of fish, the benefits Indigenous peoples received in return is inconclusive. Overall it was determined that Indigenous peoples were significant contributors of terrestrial protein at all five posts, and to a lesser degree, albeit still a primary contributor, of aquatic protein sources at three of the five posts included as part of this research. The results support that not only were Indigenous peoples before and during this time period trading resources amongst each other, but that they had also established deep in Canada’s interior what appears to be a fairly robust trade economy with Europeans for both fish and game consistently over an extended period of time. Since the demand by posts for fish was limited, unlike the export commercial fisheries that followed, subsistence fisheries continued to have access to this resource. The findings also substantiate the standard fur trade scholarship that fish were an important resource for HBC servants; freshwater fish formed a significant part of their regular diet, and were a local trade commodity during the fur trade in central Canada. Freshwater fish were vital to the diet and subsistence of post servants, and Indigenous peoples were involved in the fishery that produced this staple for posts.
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- Graduation date
- Fall 2018
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- Type of Item
- Thesis
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- Degree
- Master of Arts
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- License
- Permission is hereby granted to the University of Alberta Libraries to reproduce single copies of this thesis and to lend or sell such copies for private, scholarly or scientific research purposes only. Where the thesis is converted to, or otherwise made available in digital form, the University of Alberta will advise potential users of the thesis of these terms. The author reserves all other publication and other rights in association with the copyright in the thesis and, except as herein before provided, neither the thesis nor any substantial portion thereof may be printed or otherwise reproduced in any material form whatsoever without the author's prior written permission.