a milestone in the history of the Canadian
West, and at this point our story terminates. After Lord Selkirk's
death the two great fur-trading companies realized the folly of
continuing their disastrous rivalry, and made preparations to bury
their differences. Neither company had been making satisfactory
profits. In Great Britain especially, where only the echoes of the
struggle had been heard, was there an increasing desire that the two
companies should unite. One of the foremost partners of the North-West
Company was Edward Ellice, a native of Aberdeenshire, and member of the
House of Commons for Coventry. Ellice championed the party among the
Nor'westers who were in favour of union, and the two M'Gillivrays,
Simon and William, earnestly seconded his efforts. Terms acceptable to
both companies were at length agreed upon. On March 26, 1821, a formal
document, called a 'deed-poll,' outlining the basis of union, was
signed by the two parties {141} in London. In 1822 Edward Ellice
introduced a bill in parliament making the union of the companies
legal. The name of the North-West Company was dropped; the new
corporation was to be known as the Hudson's Bay Company. Thus passed
away for ever the singular partnership of the North-West Company which
had made Montreal a market for furs and had built up Fort William in
the depths of the forest. No longer did two rival trading-posts stand
by lake or stream. No longer did two rival camp-fires light up blazed
tree-trunk or grass-strewn prairie by the long and sinuous trail. From
Labrador to Vancouver, and from the Arctic to the southern confines of
the Canadian West and farther, the British flag, with H.B.C. on its
folds, was to wave over every trading-post. Midway between the
Atlantic and the Pacific a little hamlet was to struggle into life, to
struggle feebly for many years--a mere adjunct of a fur-trading post;
but at length it was to come into its own, and Winnipeg, the proudest
city of the plains, was in time to rear its palaces on the spot where
for long years the Red River Colony battled for existence against human
enemies and the obstacles of nature.

{142}

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

PRIMARY SOURCES

The Selkirk Papers in the Dominion Archives consist of seventy-nine
portfolios containing transcripts of correspondence, legal evidence,
and other proceedings relating to the Earl of Selkirk's colonizing
enterprises.

Lord Selkirk's principal works are: