The British in South Puget Sound-
Who were the Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC)?

Founded by two French fur traders, the Hudson’s Bay Company was started by wealthy English investors in 1670. In pursuit of the beaver’s fine undercoat of fur that could be manufactured into luxury hats, the fur trade drove trappers across Canada for the next 150 years. By the 1820’s, the Hudson’s Bay Company was starting to build a network of forts throughout the Pacific Northwest.

Though owned by the English, the Company relied heavily on Scots, French-Canadians, Hawaiians, and American Indians to run the forts. It was French-Canadian trappers, employed by the HBC, who gave the Deschutes river its name. They called it "des chutes," French for "the waterfalls."

The Royal Crest of the Hudson's Bay Company.  The motto reads, Pro pelle cutem; " To get a skin you risk your skin."
Courtesy of the Hudson's Bay Company.