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"We send this by our excellent friend and
kind benefactor, Dr. John McLoughlin, chief factor of the Hon. Hudson's
Bay Company. He starts in a few days for England, crosses the mountains
with the express on the northern route to Canada, from thence he
goes to New York."
- Mrs. Narcissa Whitman in a letter to her parents on March 14,
1838
These words from Mrs. Whitman mention the internationally famous
Hudson's Bay Company ("H.B.C."). This organization is
best known for its long involvement with the North American fur
trade. However, the H.B.C. also played a crucial role in the saga
of Waiilatpu and the other Presbyterian missions in the Pacific
Northwest. Indeed, the missionaries' journals and letters contain
countless references to the company. This fascinating relationship
between the H.B.C. and the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign
Missions brings up a number of intriguing questions. For example,
who founded the H.B.C. and why was it in the Pacific Northwest?
What role did the company play in the creation of the Whitman Mission?
How did the missionaries interact with the officials at Fort Vancouver
and Fort Walla Walla? Finally, what happened to the H.B.C. after
1847?
The answers begin in 1610 with Captain Henry Hudson's voyage into
the huge Canadian bay that is now named for him. He explored the
area and even traded for furs with a Native American. However, his
sailors mutinied when supplies ran low. They set Captain Hudson
adrift in a rowboat to an unknown fate and rushed back to Europe.
The mutineers' exciting news of a possible Northwest Passage inspired
a wave of explorers who flocked to Canada. Some of them returned
to Europe with cargoes of fur and these shipments caught the eye
of the aristocratic Prince Rupert. He gathered a group of associates
and they acquired a royal charter from King Charles II of England
in 1670. This document gave the "company of adventurers"
ownership of 1,486,000 square miles or 38.7% of modern-day Canada.
The H.B.C.'s posts in this vast territory initially
suffered from a century of French military raids. The organization
then faced the North West Company ("N.W.C.") and a war
between the rival fur traders exploded in 1816. This struggle featured
what historian Thomas Farnham colorfully described as "the
most barbarous battles and the sacking and burning [of] each other's
posts." The conflict finally ended when the H.B.C. acquired
the N.W.C. in 1821. Dr. McLoughlin and Mr. Peter Skene Ogden were
among the N.W.C. employees who began new careers as H.B.C. officials.
The H.B.C. also acquired the Fort Walla Walla trading post at the
junction of the Columbia and Walla Walla Rivers.
The H.B.C.'s posts provided many of the Nez Perce with their first
glimpse of Christianity in the 1820's. Reverend Asa Smith interviewed
some of these natives in 1839 while investigating "the origin
of their notions concerning the Christian religion." His report
to the American Board headquarters included these findings:
"Untill about ten years ago as near as I
can learn from them, they knew nothing of the Christian religion
or of the Sabbath. My teacher tells me that they had indeed before
this seen a flag flying at the Forts of the H.B.C. on certain days
& that the men were shaved & dressed different from usual
& were engaged in horse racing and gambling, but they knew not
then that it was the Sabbath… These were among some of the
first ideas they had of religion."
The American Board missionaries strongly disapproved of this casual
treatment of the Sabbath. However, one of Dr. Whitman's letters
from 1837 shows that he liked some of the H.B.C.'s other activities:
"The present worship of the Indians was established by the
Traders of the Hudson Bay Co. It consists of the singing a form
of prayer taught them after which the Chief gives them a talk. It
has had a favorable influence upon them in rendering them more civil
& little addicted to steal. Some of the leading truths of Revelation
have also been taught them."
The company supplemented these efforts by sending several Northwestern
natives to an Anglican Church school in Canada. The Spokane tribe
was initially represented by a youth who was nicknamed "Spokane
Garry." He learned the English language and the basic ideas
of the Anglican faith. He returned home in 1829 and he told the
nearby natives about his experiences. These stories inspired several
individuals to travel to St. Louis in 1831. Reverend Smith later
said that these natives had wanted to find "Christian teachers."
The newspaper stories of this amazing journey motivated Reverend
Samuel Parker and Dr. Whitman to head westwards in 1835. The pair
reached the site of the annual fur traders' rendezvous in Wyoming
and then split up. Dr. Whitman went back east to recruit other missionaries
and Reverend Parker continued westwards to look for possible mission
sites. Reverend Parker received a warm welcome from Mr. Pierre Pambrun
at Fort Walla Walla. He also accepted Dr. McLoughlin's invitation
to spend several months at Fort Vancouver.
Reverend Parker was supposed to meet Dr. Whitman and the other
missionaries at the fur traders' rendezvous in 1836. But, he angered
his colleagues by returning to the eastern United States on a ship.
However, a group of H.B.C. employees attended the rendezvous and
they escorted the missionaries to Fort Vancouver. The Whitmans quickly
developed a warm friendship with Dr. McLoughlin. They also enjoyed
visiting with Mr. Pambrun and his family at Fort Walla Walla.
Unfortunately, the Whitmans did not have such a harmonious relationship
with their fellow missionaries. The evangelists frequently wrote
bitter letters about each other to the American Board headquarters
and these documents occasionally mentioned the Pambruns. In one
letter, Reverend Smith described his co-workers' efforts to teach
the Cayuse and Nez Perce about agriculture. He opposed these activities
because he felt they distracted the tribes from learning about Christianity.
He stated that Mr. Pambrun and other H.B.C. officials had advised
the missionaries not to give the tribes a lot of farming equipment.
Tragically, Mr. Pambrun was fatally injured when he fell from a
horse in the spring of 1841. He was replaced by Mr. Archibald McKinlay
a few months later. Mrs. Whitman mentioned in a letter that Mr.
McKinlay did not follow his predecessor's policy of appeasing the
Cayuse with bribes. Mr. McKinlay soon showed this firm attitude
when there was a clash at Waiilatpu in the fall of 1841. Some of
the Cayuse demanded that the Whitmans pay rent for the mission site
and the missionaries refused to comply. Mr. McKinlay heard about
this argument and he warned the Cayuse against making such requests.
Mr. McKinlay stayed at Fort Walla Walla until he was replaced by
Mr. William McBean in 1846. Dr. Whitman mentioned this change in
a letter to the American Board headquarters shortly afterwards.
Of course, Dr. Whitman did not know that he had less than fifteen
months left to live when he wrote that letter. His life came to
an abrupt end on November 29, 1847 when he and his wife were killed.
Mr. Ogden came up to Fort Walla Walla a few weeks later and he paid
a ransom of trade goods for the captives at Waiilatpu. His generosity
showed that even death could not break the friendship that existed
between the H.B.C. and the Whitmans.
In spite of this friendship, there had been cultural differences
between the two organizations during the Whitmans' lifetime. For
example, the American Board viewed the Catholic Church as an archenemy.
In contrast, the H.B.C. had a very tolerant attitude towards both
Protestants and Catholics. The Presbyterian missionaries also felt
that the company's employees committed blasphemy when they traveled
on Sundays. These feelings existed even though the H.B.C. frequently
carried the missionaries' letters back to the eastern United States.
Perhaps the two worldviews were best shown in their attitudes towards
the Christmas holiday. The missionaries saw the holiday as a dubious
legacy from the Catholic Church. The H.B.C. celebrated each Christmas
with a wild round of feasting, dancing and drinking. Not surprisingly,
the missionaries were very unwelcome visitors at the H.B.C.'s posts
during the holiday season!
The H.B.C.'s glory days in the Pacific Northwest ended when the
United States and Britain reached a boundary settlement in 1846.
This agreement meant that Fort Vancouver and Fort Walla Walla were
now in the U.S. The company closed Fort Walla Walla in 1855 and
Fort Vancouver was shut down five years later. The H.B.C. then transferred
most of its Canadian lands to the British government in the 1860's
and 1870's. But, the company continued its fur trading activities
well into the twentieth century. The organization also expanded
into oil drilling and department stores. The company sold many of
its subsidiaries in the 1980's and focused on its department store
operations. The H.B.C. now has approximately 70,000 employees and
it is currently the largest department store chain in Canada. The
company has also moved into the new worlds of cyberspace and online
shopping.
Prince Rupert was an inventor as well as a businessman and so he
would have been fascinated with the H.B.C.'s Web site. He may have
also been surprised by the H.B.C.'s friendship with the American
Board in the 1800's. This is because he and Charles II were among
the top leaders of the Royalist side during the English Civil War
of the 1640's. Their opponents were members of the British Parliament
who funded armies made up of Scotch Presbyterians and other Puritans.
The Royalists lost the war and Charles II was forced into exile.
However, he was allowed to come home and restore his dynasty in
1660. The American Board was established one hundred and fifty years
later by a group of Congregationalists who quickly gained support
from Presbyterian churches. This missionary organization shared
the same spiritual beliefs as the Puritans of the 1640's. So, perhaps
Prince Rupert and Charles II would have been pleased that their
company eventually befriended the religious descendants of their
foes.
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