England to Hudson's Bay. Although the Eaglet was disabled in a storm and had to turn back, the cargo of the Nonsuch was so valuable and profitable that King Charles II, in 1670, issued a charter to the "Governor and Company of Adventurers of England trading into Hudson's Bay," the first Governor being Prince Rupert. The Hudson's Bay Company is still in existence and often is referred to as being the oldest company in the world.[1]
Jean Nicolet had been exploring the Western shores of the Great Lakes twenty years before Radisson and Groseillers, but they were the first to push westerly as far as the Mississippi Valley. Following them shortly came Du Luth, Joliet, Le Seur and others lesser known, but perhaps as brave as they. Along with these earliest traders, and sometimes preceding them, there came also those equally fearless spirits, Allouez, Hennepin, Marquette, and the rest, devoting their lives unselfishly to carrying the Christian faith to the Indians.
Travel in those early days was by canoe and trail, following watercourses almost entirely. It had not yet reached the prairies to any great extent. Portages or "carrys" were necessary around the steepest rapids and from the headwaters of one stream across the "height of land" to the headwaters of another. In this way canoe trips had been made up the St. Lawrence and the Hudson, and across the Great Lakes, or by the Ottawa River. It was known also, before the year 1700, that a feasible route existed westward from Lake Superior via the Kaministiquia River at least as far as Rainy Lake. Indeed as early as 1689, a trading post had been established at the mouth of the Kaministiqua by Du Luth. But by the end of the century incessant warfare among the Indians, and the ruinous effect upon authorized trade,
- ↑ It is believed that this distinction belongs to the Mining Company of Great Copper Mountain of Sweden, whose charter is dated February 24, 1347.
