Ballantyne's Life: Hudson's Bay Part 1

This post is part of a chronological series upon Robert Ballantyne's life, which was introduced here.

'One day my dear father was reading in the newspapers some account of the discoveries of Dease and Simpson in the neighborhood of the famous North-west Passage. Looking at me over his spectacles with the perplexed air of a man who has an idle son of sixteen to start in the race of life, he said--

"How would you like to go into the service of the Hudson's Bay Company and discover the North-west Passage?"--or words to that effect.

"All right, father," said I--or something of that sort.' [1]

With this rather abrupt determination which Robert Michael Ballantyne quoted in his Personal Reminiscinses upon Book-Making, this young sixteen-year-old began the next era of his life. To many today, this would seem a rash decision for a father to make, sending a young son across the ocean to a wild and dangerous continent. However, the Ballantyne family was experiencing drastically reduced circumstances due to "Sandy" Ballantyne's financial ruin that occurred with the Ballantyne Press collapse. (To read more of this, click here). Thus, Robert's father had no good directions in England to send his son for a career.

Hudson Bay is an enormous body of water in Canada discovered in 1611 by the explorer Henry Hudson, after whom it was named. The "watershed," so to speak, of Hudson Bay, is an extensive area of ground, which during Ballantyne's time was termed "Rupert's Land." A trading venture called the Hudson's Bay Company owned this area and carried out their business of fur trapping. The Hudson Bay area being vastly larger than the entirety of the British Isles, canoes were the main means of transportation over the necessarily long distances.

The normal method of acquiring furs was to trade European goods with the Indians in return for the desired skins. Rupert's Land was dotted with small, desolate trading posts, which they often called forts, where the Indians came to exchange goods. Temperatures in this harsh land were extreme in winter, often going to forty or fifty degrees below zero!

On May 31, 1841, Ballantyne signed his contract with the Hudson's Bay Company, accepting a beginning salary of £20 a year for the post of "Apprentice Clerk". Five years was the agreed time of service, and his wages were to increase each year in the following manner: £20, £25, £30, £40, £50. In 1841, each British pound was worth around $5.

Following preparations for this new adventure, on July 6, 1841, Ballantyne set sail in the Prince Rupert, bound for North America. His destination, York Factory, was a major post in Rupert's Land through which all sorts of supplies and trading goods passed. It was not until August 21 that Ballantyne and his fellow passengers arrived, much to the joy of York Factory's inhabitants whose circle of acquaintances was small, owing to its sparse population

Ten days after his arrival, Ballantyne set off in one of four boats bound for Fort Garry in the Red River Settlement. He began his first real work for the Company here, keeping records of expenses, purchases, etc., along with a number of other young clerks. The work was dull, but it was enlivened by spirited hunts in the fresh air, and, once winter arrived, moonlit sleigh rides. The young men at Fort Garry were a rambunctious lot, who called themselves the "Fraternity of Quill-Drivers." Most of the young men in the service of the Hudson's Bay Company were a hearty, reckless lot, much enamored with tobacco, of which all smoked tremendous amounts.

Spring came, and along with the new season came orders for Ballantyne to shoulder his belongings and move on, this time to Norway House, a smaller trading post. This was a pleasant place, allowing for many fishing and hunting expeditions, but with less human association than Red River. Except for the drudgery of work which Ballantyne did not enjoy, he spent an exhilarating year at Norway House. It was not until June of 1843 that orders came for Robert to return to York Factory.

Ballantyne's descriptions of work, summer activities, winter inactivities, and everyday life are quite interesting. You can find an autobiographical account in his first book, Hudson Bay. It was while at York Factory that he wrote an interesting poem concerning the area, a portion of which can be seen in my article about poetry, here.

Ballantyne suffered from the swampy climate which surrounded the post in summer, and spent a large portion of time in the sick bay, both in the hot months, as well as the following winter. He persevered in his work, however, and the company took pity on his indisposition by transferring him to Norway House the next year.

Stay tuned for Part 2 of this article, which explores the rest of his career in the Hudson Bay area!

Tutela ex Vulnero,

John

[1] Personal Reminiscinses upon Book-Making by R. M. Ballantyne.