Men of spirit and enterprise

In the late 18th century many Orkneymen temporarily left their homelands to work for the Hudson's Bay Company in the sub-arctic territory of Rupert's Land. They were soon accompanied by an assortment of men from the Lowlands, Highlands and Western Isles of Scotland in the early 19th century. These sojourners encountered many opportunities for betterment in the fur trade, but they were also confronted with the challenge of working in a commercially competitive and remote wilderness environment. Fellow Scots worked as rivals in the North West Company but their relations were marred by a fierce trading competition, leading to violence and bloodshed. This contrasted unfavourably with the harmonious contacts between native tribes of the region and Hudson Bay Company employees, whose regard for the former prompted some to settle abroad permanently with native wives.