Introduction

Coal Markets Develop

Problems Arise

The Tide Turns

Introduction

By the early nineteenth century the Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) had procured a huge territory west of the Rocky Mountains and established trading forts at many locations along the Pacific coast. Despite this network, the Company’s stronghold on the Pacific Northwest was limited. Communication between the HBC forts and supply centres in Britain was slow and infrequent. The Beaver, the Company’s own steamer, provided the primary means of transport along the coast.¹

Sailing ships usually took four to five months to arrive on BC's Coast from Britain² and the trade in HBC furs was declining as markets in Britain and supplies in the HBC territory dwindled. An economic downturn in Britain reduced consumption of beaver pelt hats and other conspicuous items made from furs.³ While the demand for fur decreased, populations of fur-bearing animals in North America had declined due to trapping.

"S.S. Beaver, first steamship on Pacific Coast; loading supplies from log boom," before 1888" BCARS A-00010

"[Labouchere, Hudson's Bay Company Steamer, 1859-1866] 1800's"
BCARS PDP00214

Faced with these circumstances, the HBC turned to other commodities to boost it's profits. The Company began to sell coal and timber products to the Royal Navy and other fleets. These ventures helped carry the HBC through its last years as a fur trading empire prior to the sale of their greatest territory, Rupert's Land, to Canada in 1869.

The Company’s inexperience in developing resources, combined with the remoteness of Vancouver Island, limited its success. It would ultimately take other companies and thousands of immigrants to more fully develop Vancouver Island’s vast coal resources.

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