ments, or engaged in navigating five armed sailing vessels, and one armed steamer, varying from one hundred to three hundred tons in burden. History does not furnish another example of an association of private individuals exerting so powerful an influence over so large an extent of the earth's surface, and administering their affairs with such consummate skill, and unwavering devotion to the original objects of their incorporation.

The Hudson's Bay Company, even when they relinquish the valley of the Saskatchewan, and confine their operations to the region north of the 56th parallel of latitude, will still hold much of the fur trade in their grasp. But they will do so as an independent company, engaged in open competitive rivalry with all who choose to engage in that difficult and precarious traffic. The organization existing among the officers and servants of this company; their acquaintance with the habits, language, and hunting-grounds of the Indians of the North American continent; and, more especially, the fact that they are not only personally acquainted with almost every Indian in North America, but have the means, if it suit the purposes of trade, of communicating with them and supplying their wants, will secure to this admirably organized association the command of the most lucrative branches of the fur trade, for many years to come. If the history of any furtrading company in America were faithfully written, it would exhibit to the world a systematic course of action as surely destructive to the Indian race of this continent, within the limits of the law, as if it had been a predetermined object from the beginning of their operations to the close. The history, indeed, of almost any one abandoned fort or post, during the prosperous existence of a company, would be a type of the history of the entire trade, and its prejudicial influences on the Indian races. An abandoned post implies, in general, the utter destruction of the furbearing animals, or of the sources of food upon which the Indian hunters formerly subsisted. It is an acknowledg

ment that the country which once served the post has been converted into an inhospitable desert, wholly incapable, in its wild and uncultivated state, of supplying the small demands of the former inhabitants of the district it served.

TABLE SHOWING THE ANNUAL EXPORTATION OF FURS AND SKINS FROM CANADA, EXCLUSIVE OF THE HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY'S EXPORTS:

All of the furs collected by the Hudson's Bay Company go to England. The Canadian fur trade is very limited in comparison with that of the giant monopolist. The total value of the export of furs amounted, in 1861, to $228,918; $84,661 worth going to the United States, the remainder to Great Britain. The monopoly enjoyed by the Hudson's Bay Company is now extinguished by the expiration of their charter, and, as soon as ready communication between Canada and the valley of the Saskatchewan is established, the Canadian fur trade will revive again, although it will never attain a tithe of the importance it possessed during the palmy days of the North-West Company.

CHAPTER III.

SHIP-BUILDING AND THE LUMBER TRADE.

SHIP-BUILDING Was one of the earliest branches of industry cultivated in Canada. The memorials contained in the "Documents de Paris" inform us, that as early as 1715, ship-building at Quebec was pretty brisk, although there was great reason for complaint that the French would not import the fine timber of the country. The fur trade appeared to monopolize all the attention of the French rulers;

and although the British drew large supplies of lumber from the Atlantic provinces, New France contributed no part of her immense forest treasures to increase the naval resources of the great rival of England on the seas. M. de Maurepas, the French minister of marine in 1731, was fully alive to the importance of ship-building, for he wrote some strong dispatches to the governor, urging the stimulation of this branch of industry, and promised that ships of war should be constructed in Canada, if some good merchant vessels were turned out. He offered a premium of 500 francs for every vessel gauging 200 tons or over of colonial build, and sold in France or the Antilles, and 150 francs premium for each barge of thirty or forty tons, if similarly disposed of.

In 1752, ten vessels, of forty to one hundred tons, were built in Canada, but the materials were badly chosen, and the price high. It is remarkable, that even at that early period of the history of French Canadian industry, a number of vessels, used in the trade of Canada, were purchased from the enterprising New Englanders With the finest forests in the world for ship-building, unequalled facilities for bringing lumber to the seaboard, and the encouragement of a liberal bounty, French enterprise in Canada, toward the middle of the last century, was not equal to the task of seizing upon the only industry which would tend to secure to them the peaceable possession of the colony in the event of a war with their great and industrious rival, Britain, besides encouraging immigration, amassing wealth, and establishing a political importance.

In 1734 there were fifty-two saw-mills in that part of this province which lies east of the Ottawa; the population of the country being 37,252 souls. In 1827, or nearly one hundred years later, the number of saw-mills had increased to 565, with a population of 471,876.

The following table shows the number and tonnage of the sea-going vessels built at Queuec during decennial periods, between 1791 and 1861:

'Since 1787, there have been 2,939 ships built at Quebec, being in the aggregate 890,201 tons burden. The largest ship ever constructed on this continent was built in Quebec, in 1825. It was called the Baron of Renfrew, and measured 5,294 tons. Another large wooden ship was built in 1824, measuring 3,690 tons: but these huge wooden vessels were not successful.

This enumeration does not include other vessels which were constructed at the different ports of the valley of the St. Lawrence, and sometimes sent across the Atlantic for sale. Such vessels have been recently built on Lake Huron, at Toronto, &c., &c., but in consequence of the general depression in trade, since the year 1857, little has been done in ship-building in the lake districts, although there is every prospect that it will become an important industry now that ship communication with Europe and Lake Superior, by means of the Canadian canals, without breaking bulk, is easily and profitably accomplished.

The lumber trade was long in growing to importance during the early history of Canada. In 1723 nineteen vessels cleared from Quebec, containing cargoes of peltries, lumber, and provisions; but there does not appear to have been any considerable trade in lumber between Europe and Canada until the close of the eighteenth century.

In 1786, the exports of fish, lumber, &c., from Labrador and Gaspé were returned at £45,000 sterling, and furs and other colonial produce from Quebec at £445,116 sterling; but lumber is not specially included as an article of com

*The average value of ships built at Quebec is taken at $40 a ton; the tonnage can be obtained at once by dividing the value by 40.

merce. In 1808, the products of the forest became a separate item, and we find oak and pine timber, staves, masts, &c., exported, to the value of £157,360 sterling; but from the United States the imports of lumber were to the amount of £70,000 sterling, the greater part of which would be included in the amount specified above. The different articles which make up Canadian lumber exports have been enumerated in the chapter on "Forest Industry." It will suffice for present purposes to state the condition of the export trade during the years 1824 to 1829 inclusive, with the statistical data of the trade from 1853 to 1861 inclu

sive.

Exports of lumber from Quebec during the years 1824, 1825, 1826, 1827, and 1829:

Comparative statement of the value of the products of the

forest, during the years 1853 to 1861 inclusive:*

The annual exportation may be stated at 30,000,000 cubic feet of timber in the rough state, and about 400,000,000 feet, board measure, of sawed lumber. The revenue derived from timber cut in the public forests was $383,150, in 1861. There is very good ground for the expectation

*Furs are not included in this estimate.