The company of adventurers : a narrative of seven years in the service of the Hudson's Bay Company during 1867-1874 on the great buffalo plains ... / by Isaac Cowie ; introduction to the Bison Book edition by David Reed Miller.
Originally published: Toronto : William Briggs, 1913. "Bison book." Includes index.
Contents:
Introduction to the Bison Book edition -- Preface -- Forward to the articles which were published in Saturday issues of the "Manitoba Free Press" from February 17th to December 14th, 1912 -- Introduction -- The Orkney islanders and Rupert's Land -- The "Prince Rupert," her crew, cargo and passengers -- "Across the western ocean" -- Through straits and bay -- York Factory -- From inland sea to Lake Inland -- York Factory to Norway House -- Norway House and across Lake Winnipeg -- In the Red River Settlement -- The rise of Fort Garry and the decline of York Factory -- Swan River District -- Qu'Appelle -- A buffalo "provision post" -- My initiation -- A winter trip to the plains -- Wood Mountain, Old Wives' Creek, and return trip to Qu'Appelle -- The close of the fur trade year -- A new trade year begins -- cart trip to Indian Camp -- The camp of the allied tribes -- A camp in turmoil -- In the midst of alarms -- a grand buffalo hunt -- The return trip to the fort -- The late summer of 1868 and winter of 1868-9 -- History of Fort Pelly and visit to it in winter of 1868-9 -- The summer of 1869 -- Last mountain winter, 1869-70 -- Spring and early summer of 1870 -- Fall, 1870, and winter, 1870-1 -- The summer and fall of 1871 -- starvation and quarantine -- Winter at Cypre Hills, 1871-2 -- In full charge of Qu'Appelle, summer, 1872 -- Springs and summer of 1873 -- Winter on the plains, 1873-4 -- Appendices.
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 Factory, 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.
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