Second-Industrial Revolution
The second-industrial revolution is where we see a lot of the fur trade being changed from a technological level. There is a move from trapping to farm and we see the emergence of early animal rights groups
1867
Confederation of Canada.
1869
Hudson's Bay Company surrenders Rupert's Land - this comes into effect 1870.
1880
Hudson's Bay Company begins to sell farm land in Western Canada.
1881
1881
Hudson's Bay Company releases first mail in order catalogue
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First retail store opens
New transportation: Canadian Pacific Railway & Steam Boats help to fuel immigration to Canada
Loss of native hunting practices due to land encroachment and overhunting leads to extinction concerns
Millions of immigrants settle in the prairies so Hudson's Bay Company turns former trading posts into stores
Fur Trade During the Second Industrial Revolution (and beyond)
The second Industrial revolution was a rapid increase in industrialization that happened from roughly 1870 to the beginning of WWI, 1914. From then to the start of the overall decline of the fur industry later in the 20th century, the industry underwent some massive shifts. In the previous century and earlier, fur was a trade, trapping in the woods was a way of life for entire communities. The mid 19th to mid 20th century period saw that lifestyle become less common, and the industry as a whole shift towards farming, along with various early animal welfare movements beginning to gain strength.
1907
Hudson's Bay Company establishes wholesale department
1909
First Hudson's Bay Company trading post is established in the Eastern Arctic
1930
Hudson's Bay Company enacts a beaver management program to reduce overhunting
1961
1961
Hudson's Bay Company closes its land sales department
Start of the second industrial revolution marks the decline of the fur trade as an economic foundation in Canada
Western Canada expands greater settlement which reduces land trapping area
Fur trade pushes North and is successful due to the establishment and use of planes
Moving North & New Strategies
The opening up of western Canada meant that there was more competition and less places to hunt, so the HBC moved their attention north. They opened their first trading post in the Arctic in 1909, in order to gain access to new fox furs. The HBC company also worked to expand their business model beyond fur trapping. The first fur farm in Canada was started in 1895, with foxes on Prince Edward Island. Breeding animals in captivity rather than trapping them in the wild grew in popularity, especially with mink and fox. Many of the Indigenous trappers that had worked with the HBC company were left behind by this shift. The loss of both business and important food sources like buffalo helped push First Nations leaders to sign various “Numbered Treaties,” surrendering their land (Government of Canada, 2017). The HBC’s move to the Arctic became quite lucrative, especially once commercial planes were available to transport goods. In 1943, the HBC exported
30 000 fox pelts from the north (Red Lake Museum).
1943
1943
Record number of fox pelts from the arctic exported
Hudson's Bay Company reduces native support services leaving them vulnerable to market swings
Establishment and conduction of fur farming over hunting
Establishment of fur manufacturing with the increase of skilled craftspeople
SUSTAINABILITY
By the early 19th, some mainstream figures began to become concerned about sustainability. For example, in those days, hats featuring the feathers, beaks, and whole bodies of exotic birds were incredibly popular. Many of these birds were threatened with extinction, until the US government passed the 1918 Migratory Bird Act, one of the first pieces of federal environmental legislation (Serratore, 2018). The government of Canada began acting on similar issues within the fur trade a few years later. In 1930, they established the first modern Canadian beaver preserve to help them recover from over-hunting. It covered 18 648 square kilometres of northern Quebec. By 1951, the reserves protected 187 000 square kilometres of land.
ETHICAL ISSUES
​As time went on, animal activism began to focus more on ethical issues, not just potential extinction. Many traps used by hunters failed to kill the animal immediately, and led to animals chewing a limb off to escape, or suffering for days. The steel-jawed leghold trap was outlawed in England and Wales in 1958 (Glover & Linzey, 2013). This is all before the establishment of animal rights organizations like PETA and the ALF, who see the act of wearing fur as inherently wrong.
HBC MOVES INTO THE 20TH CENTURY
By this point the HBC had moved away from an exclusive focus on fur towards a general retail experience. They had opened their first wholesale department in 1907, and continued to expand that part of the company over the years. In 1961 they closed their land sales department, and 30 years later they left the fur trade (CBC Archives, 2019).
The Impact
The period from the mid 19th to the mid 20th century was a time of extreme changes for the fur industry and everyone who participated in it. During the second industrial revolution, fur changed from a way of life that formed the economic foundation of western Canada to a slowly shrinking trade.
Author of Second-Industrial Revolution
