1754 Anthony Henday, an HBC servant, travels with a group of Cree Indians from Hudson bay to Blackfoot country in what is now central Alberta. He is the first white man to see the Rockies. His intention is to convince the Indians to bring their furs to Hudson bay. After a tumultuous voyage, Henday returns at York Factory and tries to convince the officers there that he saw snow-capped mountains and Indians riding horses. MAP

1756 The French and Indian War begins in the Ohio valley. The fur trade is interrupted and most of the licensed traders and voyageurs are called back east. By that time, the Montreal fur trade had expanded westward through the southern part of the Canadian Shield, south into the upper part of the Mississippi valley and west across the Prairies to the foothills of the Rocky Mountains.

1757 There are still seven French trading posts in operation in the Great Lakes region and beyond, although most have been abandonned.

1758 The French posts on the Saskatchewan river are deserted

1758 Capture of the French fortress of Louisbourg by the British.

1759 Capture of Québec by the British, under the command of General James Wolfe.

1759 All French posts in the West are deserted. However independant traders like Francis Le Blanc, Maurice Blondeau and a man known as "Franceway" continue to trade.

1760 Montreal surrenders to the British in September. All trading rights and privileges become British. Furs are now sent to London instead of Paris. Trade goods are supplied mainly through London agents.

1761 Some English traders affiiated with the HBC are present in the west.

1762 France cedes all of its lands west of the Mississippi to Spain.

1763 Treaty of Paris: France officially hands over its North American colonies (except for the islands of Martinique, Guadeloupe, St-Pierre and Miquelon) to Great Britain.

1763 Royal Proclamation: the British government develops its foundation in Canada by attempting several arrangements to control the fur trade, such as limiting trade to only five posts and exclusive licensing. In spite of this, unlicensed traders continue to operate. Trade with Indians is permitted only with a license.

1765 Alexander Henry receives exclusive rights to trade on Lake Superior. He and his partner, Jean Baptiste Cadotte, build a post at Chequamagon and send outfits into the Fond du Lac region. Henry hopes to unlock the secrets of the interior of North America.

1766 Johnathon Carver travels west in search of the Northwest passage. He journeys in Minnesota and makes a trip that yields no favorable results. He maintains that a British settlement on the northwest coast of North America would encourage trade, discovery and communication with China and the East Indies. MAP

1766 The British fur trade starts to be active again, especially at Michilimackinac, where traders and voyageurs, following old French routes, embark and return with pelts the following spring. Their success induce some to renew this journey and others to enter the fur trade. Thomas Curry and James Finlay are examples of such early post-conquest English traders not working for the HBC.

1767 Trade regulations are returned to the colonies and exclusive licenses are abolished. The growth of unregulated trade increases the use of liquor in the fur trade. British traders are allowed to establish wintering posts among Indians.

1768 Québec Governor Sir Guy Carleton, advises the senior statesman in London in charge of trade policy (Lord Shelburne) that British traders from Montreal should proceed across the continent to the Pacific coast. He had in mind a government-authorized expedition in which traders could go to the western lakes, winter in a distant post, and set out in spring for the Pacific ocean. Alexander Mackenzie would accomplish this task 25 years later.

1768-9 The fur trade in Montreal is now controlled by American, English and Scottish immigrants and businessmen. The success of these newcomers threatens HBC interests. As trade restrictions are cancelled, the "invasion" of the Far Northwest (today's Northwest Territories and British Columbia) begins.

1769 Benjamin and Joseph Frobisher make their first attempt to the Northwest at Lac la Pluie (Rainy Lake).

1771 Samuel Hearne of the HBC travels all the way to Coppermine River. He learns from experience that no expedition to the Northwest is worth the effort without excellent Native guides. He also travels 1600 kilometres north west of Fort Churchill. Hearne is the first European to stand on the Arctic shores of America and to prove the absence of a direct waterway to the Pacific across the continent.

1772 Peter Pangman and his partner Joseph Fulton winter at Fort Dauphin. In the spring of 1773, Pangman unsuccessfully tries to ship his furs to England by way of Hudson bay. He is advised to move off HBC lands.

1774 Quebec Act: the western Great Lakes and all lands north of the Ohio River are annexed to the Province of Québec, the 14th British colony. This confirms the Montreal traders' advantages as it extends the jurisdiction of Quebec to the Great Lakes region. Green Bay and Prairie du Chien become important interior trading centers, but cut-throat competition reduces profits. Small partnerships are formed among Montreal merchants to avoid or oppose the competition. The American Revolution leads some traders to avoid areas south and west of the Great Lakes and encourages them to go north and west. MAP

1774 The HBC builds its first inland post at Fort Cumberland. The English Company begins its expansion into the interior to keep pace with the rivalry from Montreal. This post is situated at the center of the Plains at the junction of river systems which lead to the Arctic and to Hudson bay.

1774 The firm McTavish and Co. is established. SImon McTavish becomes partner with Joseph Frobisher and James Bannerman.

1775 Backed by Montreal merchants, Alexander Henry the elder comes up from Sault-Ste-Marie by way of the Winnipeg and Saskatchewan rivers to reach Cumberland House. Joseph Frobisher, determined to penetrate into yet unexplored territory, induces the Indians around Fort Churchill and to trade with him. In November, Montreal is captured by American troops. This occupation would last until June 1776.

1776 Thomas Frobisher winters at Ile-à-la-crosse where he realizes that Chipewyan Indians from the Athabaska country can bring him their furs instead of heading all the way until Churchill river and other HBC posts. The Frobisher brothers continue to camp across the Chipewyan path and thus collect the trade as the Indians pass by.

1777 The HBC's Cumberland House is by-passed by traders from Montreal who use the Lake Superior route for outfitting. These traders push further up the Saskatchewan and gain the upper-hand in trade competition. The HBC counters this by sending two parties to establish trading depots beyond the blockade of the pedlars, one being about 450 miles up the Saskatchewan river from Cumberland House and the other in the Athabasca country.

1778 Financed by Montreal merchants, Peter Pond travels to what is now Alberta and pioneers the Athabaska region. Travelling and wintering since 1775, Pond is able to bypass the stationary trade the HBC has brought to the interior and takes the business to new frontiers of influence. He finds Cree and Chipewyan Indians eager to trade and winters along Elk River in 1779. Pond would return to Montreal with 140 packs of fur.

1778 Official foundation of Grand Portage, along the northern shore of lake Superior. Completed in 1784, this fort will serve as the headquarters of the Northwest Company until 1805. A small trading post had initially been established by de la Vérendrye in August 1731. Grand Portage takes its name from the fact that the original portage trail there is 9 miles long. MAP

1779 To provide more capital and thus continue competing with the HBC, some Montreal traders form the first agreement of the Northwest Company. It becomes operative for the outfit of 1780 and is the first joint stock company in Canada and possibly North America. The agreement lasts 1 year.

1780 Upon seeing the success of the first concern, Montreal fur traders organize the second Northwest Company agreement. It is intended to last 3 years.

1781 A major small-pox epidemic spreads throughout the Great Lakes and the Northwest ravaging many Native groups and damaging trade relations.

1782 As violent and ruinous competition returns to the Montreal fur trade, the second Northwest Company partnership is dropped.

1783 Following the American War of Independance, the peace of 1783 hastens a reorientation of the fur trade that was under way by the time of the American Revolution. There is a question of the future status of NWC posts in what is now USA territory as the new boundary severes Canada from the main fur-bearing area south of the Great Lakes.

1783 In October, the third Northwest Company agreement is formed though a partnernship of various Montreal firms. The agreement is made for 5 years.

1784 In the summer, the NWC dispatches Edward Umfreville to explore rivers by way of lake Nipigon to the interior. Since the route he follows is quite difficult, the Grand Portage route is maintainned for the next two decades. During the winter of that year, Captain James Cook publishes an account of his voyages along the Pacific coast of western Canada. He accounts that a river coming from the north connects to the ocean. This will inspire Alexander Mackenzie in search of direct passage to the Pacific. MAP

1785 The firm Gregory, McLeod and Co, who did not join the 1783-4 NWC agreement, remains a serious rival to the NWC. Gregory, looking for capable directors, makes his former clerk, Alexander Mackenzie, a full partner in his concern and sends him to the Northwest in the spring.

1785 The Beaver Club is formed in Montreal and becomes a very select social organization of men who have wintered in Indian country.

1786 The HBC continues to build trading posts in the interior because furs are being increasingly obtained directly at the Indian camps by the traders of NWC.

1787 The NWC increases its shares to 20 for a period of 5 years. In the process, the "New Company" of Gregory, McLeod and Company merges with the NWC. This merger is sparked by the murder a John Ross, a partner with Gregory, perhaps by Peter Pond. The rivals agree that lawless competition must end. In the reallotment of the territories, Alexander Mackenzie, member of the dissolved group, is given charge of the Athabaska district.

1788 The NWC employs 40 partners as well as 200 guides, interpreters and voyageurs. Fort Espérance on the Qu'Appelle river slowly becomes an important provision depot of the NWC as large quantities of dried meat and pemmican are kept there for distribution to other posts.

1789 Alexander Mackenzie searches for the Northwest Passage and instead reaches the Arctic Ocean. Simon McTavish tries to lease transportation rights through Hudson bay but is refused. The NWC begins construction of trading boats on the Great Lakes. They build posts on the St. Louis river, Leech lake, Pine lake and Otter Tail lake.

1789 Angus Shaw establishes Lac d'Original Fort at the lake of the same name on the upper course of the Beaver river northeast of the present city of Edmonton. He is said to have found four HBC traders there with a group of Assiniboine Indians. Three years later, he would establish Fort George on the Saskatchewan River.

1790 The Montreal merchants secure the repeal of the trade ordinance of 1777, thus ending the licensing system and opening a virtually unrestricted trade in liquor. McTavish, Frobisher and Co. becomes the official supplier of the NWC.

1791 The Pacific coast already lays under the Russian and British flags, with the United States not far behind. Spain is slowly removed from the area through agreements with Great Britian.

1792 American Captain Rogert Gray sails into the mouth of the Columbia. This event would later prove central to the failed British attempt to claim the area.

1793 Alexander Mackenzie successfully crosses the continent to the Pacific Ocean. The route that he discovers is so tumultuous that it will not be used in the future. His water and overland trip to the Pacific is the first completed by a European north of Mexico.

1794 Jay's Treaty sets the boundary line east of the Mississippi between British North America and the United States of America. It gives reciprocal trading rights to British and American traders, as each are given the right to cross the border to trade on the other's territory. The treaty also opens New York for direct shipment of furs from Detroit and Michilimackinac. American businessman John Jacob Astor becomes involved in the fur trade.

1795 The NWC amounts to 46 shares. It controls almost 75% of the fur trade of Canada, leaving only 25% to the HBC and to independant traders.

1796 By this date, almost half of the HBC's posts are located within 10 miles of a rival trading post. This date seems to be the start of a peak in competition. Until this time, the NWC had controlled a much larger segment of the fur market in profits and spacial terms. After 1796, rival posts increase and the HBC slowly starts to cluster itself around NWC posts.

1797 David Thompson joins the NWC and makes a 4000 mile exploration of the headwaters of the Mississippi system. In doing so, he discovers a route to the Pacific. He will spend the following years far up the Saskatchewan and make headquarters at Rocky Mountain House.

1798 The NWC employs 50 clerks, 71 interpreters, 1120 voyageurs and 35 guides. MAP

1798 Discontent rages among the winterers of the NWC due to small shares and poor trade goods. Dissidents leave the concern and form a new one, the New North West Company, or XY Company, which includes the firms Forsyth, Richardson and Co. and Leith, Jamieson and Co.. Simon McTavish orders all his departments to undersell the XY traders.

1798 The official establishment of the new boundary between the United States and British North America forces the NWC to move its lake Superior depot from Grand Portage to the Kaministiquia River, where Fort Kaministiquia is built, so named after the old French fort there. The building of the new depot began in 1801 and is completed in 1804.

1799 The area of what is now northern Saskatchewan and Manitoba is slowly filled with rival NWC, XY and HBC posts most often built side by side.

1800 The NWC operates 117 trading posts. By this time, it has expanded not only in the west, but also along James Bay, and the Abitibi and Témiscamingue regions. This allows the company to exploit lands in Québec not yet controlled by the HBC. It also permits the interception of furs bound for Hudson bay.