ods imported into the Red river
settlements and the furs exported therefrom all came and went through
the difficult and circuitous route by way of Hudson Bay. This route was
only navigable for about two months in the year, on account of the ice.
The catch of furs and buffalo robes in that region was practically
monopolized by the Hudson Bay Company. The American Fur Company soon
became well established in the Northwest. In 1844 this company sent Mr.
Norman W. Kittson from the Mendota outfit to establish a trading post at
Pembina, just south of the British possessions, with the design of
diverting some of the fur trade of that region in the direction of the
navigable waters of the Mississippi. The company, through Mr. Kittson,
invested some $2,000 in furs at Pembina, and had them transported to
Mendota in six Pembina carts, which returned loaded with merchandise of
the character needed by the people of that distant region. This venture
was the beginning of the fur trade with the Red river country, but did
not prove a financial success. It entailed a loss of about $600, and
similar results attended the next two years' operations, but the trade
increased, notwithstanding the desperate efforts of the Hudson Bay
Company to obstruct it. This company had enjoyed a monopoly of the trade
without any outside interference for so long that it looked upon this
new enterprise as a direct attack on its vested rights. But Mr. Kittson
had faith in being able in the near future to work up a paying trade,
and he persevered. By the year 1850 the business had so far increased as
to involve a consumption of goods to the extent of $10,000, with a
return of furs to the amount of $15,000. Five years later the goods sent
to Pembina amounted in value to $24,000, and the return of furs to
$40,000. In 1851 the firm of Forbes & Kittson was organized, and also
"The St. Paul Outfit," to carry on the supply business. When St. Paul
became of some importance in 1849 the terminus and supply depot was
removed to that point, and the trade rapidly increased in magnitude, and
made St. Paul one of the largest fur markets in America, second only to
St. Louis, the trade of which city consisted mostly of buffalo robes,
which was always regarded as a distinct branch of the business, in
contrast with that of fine furs. In the early days the Indians and a
few professional trappers were about all who caught fur animals, but as
the country became more settled the squatt