The fur trade influenced the historical development of Canada in a number of ways including: the development and expansion into western and northern Canada; the significance of Canadian place names; the origin and rise of the Métis Nation; the impact of interaction between the First Peoples and the Europeans-and these connections can be found in personal and commercial stories about the people and events of the fur trade.
--8-- Pritchard Taken by the Ice on the Abitibi, 1814
The December 1949 cover of The Beaver magazine featured George Franklin Arbuckle's painting "Pritchard Taken by the Ice on the Abitibi, 1814."
In 1814, the rivalry between the Hudson’s Bay Company and the North West Company had reached fever pitch, especially at Red River. In Montreal en route to London, former NWC man and Red River settler John Pritchard learned of NWC plans to ruin the colony and take its Governor prisoner.
A humanitarian, Pritchard was outraged and alerted the HBC, which enlisted him to travel back to Red River to warn of the impending attack. Pritchard and four others set off by a circuitous northerly route – almost four thousand miles – via James and Hudson Bay.
Since it was October, they were barely a quarter of the way when their canoes were frozen in by the onset of ice on the Abitibi River. Setting up camp, the group felled a number of trees and manufactured a set of toboggans and snowshoes on the spot.
By the time Pritchard arrived in Red River in April 1815, only he and one other remained from the original party. Pritchard’s mission was only partially successful. Although Governor Miles Macdonell remained a free man, large numbers of settlers had already deserted the colony.
