1733 Hudson Bay Trade Goods.

In 1733 at the Albany Post, the Hudson’s Bay Company sold goods at the following rates:  

Item	#MB		Item	#MB
¾ pound coloured beads	1		1 file	1
1 brass kettle	1		20 gunflints	1
1 pound lead	1		1 gun [probably a musket]	10-12
1 ½ pounds gunpowder	1		1 pistol	4
2 pounds sugar	1		1 gun-worm	1
2 pounds “Brazil” tobacco	1		1 pair yarn gloves	1
1 ½ pounds leaf tobacco	1		2 goggles	1
1 ½ pounds roll tobacco	1		1 handkerchief	1
1 pound thread	1		1 hat	1
1 ½ ounce vermillion	1		2 hatchets	1
1 gallon brandy	1		8 hawk bells	1
2 yards broad cloth	1		2 ice chisels	1
1 blanket	1		8 knives	1
12 awls	1		2 looking glasses	1
12 dozen buttons	1		12 needles	1
1 pair breeches	1		2 net lines	1
2 combs	1		2 powderhorns	1
2 red feathers	1		6 plain rings	1
20 fish hooks	1		3 stone rings	1
4 fire steels	1		2 scrapers	1
2 sword blades	1		1 pair stockings	1 ¼
4 spoons	1		2 sashes	1
2 shirts	1		6 thimbles	1
1 pair shoes	1		2 tobacco boxes	1

The Hudson's Bay Company eventually introduced coins to facilitate the fur trade. The coins were minted of brass or copper and were issued in units of Made Beaver. The coins were paid to the Indian hunter for the furs he brought in.  The coins could then be spent like cash inside the Hudson's Bay Company store.

In 1821 Nicholas Garry of the Hudson’s Bay Company writes about his trade in the Hudson Bay drainage basin and stated:      

1 hatchet = 2 beaver

 1 trade gun=11 beaver

 1 3-gallon kettle=6 beaver

Beaver at this time were worth about $6 and a small axe could be purchased in Montreal for 50 cents or less. 

http://www.mman.us/tradegoods.htm 

HBC Point Blanket

Samuel Hearne 1769.

Samuel Hearne was to make three trips for the Hudson Bay Company. The first two trips were cut short because of the loss of Hearne's sextant.
Hearne was at the mercy of his Indian guides and carryers, no matter how much he disliked some of the things they did or did not do, he was forced to keep the peace and carry on. On the last trip Hearne was to witness a horrific act of barbarity, and he could do no more than stand and watch it play out.

Chawchinahaw finding that this kind of treatment was not likely to complete his design, and that we were not to be starved into compliance, at length influenced several of the best Northern Indians to desert in the night, who took with them several bags of my ammunition, some pieces of iron work, such as hatchets, ice chissels, files, &c., as well as several other useful articles.

A Journey from Prince of Wales's Fort in Hudson's Bay to the Northern Ocean in the Years 1769, 1770, 1771, 1772, by Samuel Hearne

About Period Blankets. Part 2.

A 3-point blanket carried by Private Henry Marble of Massachusetts in the Revolutionary War. White wool, with 2 3/4 inch indigo blue stripes and points. Marble's blanket is in the foreground. Behind it is a 19th century 3-point Hudson's Bay blanket. Museum of the Fur Trade Collections, Chadron, Nebraska. Frederick C. Gaede and E. Bryce Workman, "Notes on Point Blankets in the Military Service," The Museum of the Fur Trade Quarterly, vol. 15, 2, (Summer 1979), 1-2.

  8 lbs of gun powder 1 beaver 4 beavers
1 gun 2 beavers 5 beavers
40 lbs of lead 1 beaver 3 beavers
1 blanket of red cloth 1 beaver 2 beavers
1 white blanket 1 beaver 2 beavers
4 shirts 1 beaver 2 beavers
6 pairs of stockings 1 beaver 2 beavers
Montreal and Albany in the year 1689.

This is the "Rose" pattern placed in each corner of the Rose blanket.

Between 1711 and 1860 [the Early company] made what became known as the "rose blanket"...[with] motifs embroidered in the four corners....[varying] between 9 and 21 inches in diameter. Blankets were woven in one long length weighing a hundred pounds....The decoration was put on to show where the length should be cut up into individual blankets....Rose blankets were popular in America.

http://ugrrquilt.hartcottagequilts.com/rr5

http://www.stroud.gov.uk/info/ihca/4.pdf

A 17th century Whitney Blanket Trade Token.

18th century Whitney Trade Token.

These are bona fide private coins issued by traders in times of acute shortage of coin of the state to enable trading activities to proceed. The token is a pledge redeemable in goods or in coin of the state, i.e. the face value of the coin represents the real value of the official coinage.

http://www.tokencoins.com/hist1.html#two

Cabin blankets for use at sea were first made in the early 18th century [3]. Many of these blankets would not have been of the best quality and were plain unbleached or dyed grey or olive. Townley.

http://witneyblanketstory.org.uk/WBP.asp?navigationPage=Blanket%20types

My Half-Blanket which I wear over my shoulders in winter. It is held together in front with an 18th century brooch.

, and one rug, most often GREEN or RED, although other colours have been noted. Typically, blankets were counted by the PAIR or in twos, whereas rugs came singly.
From: 'Ruff band - Rutherine', Dictionary of Traded Goods and Commodities, 1550-1820 (2007). URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=58859  Date accessed: 30 December 2011.

Father Pierre Briard relates in the work Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents that in 1611 the Arcadian Indians "often wear our capotes, and in the winter our bed blankets which they improve with trimming and wear double". Also around this time Mother Marie de L'Incarnation recorded that she saw Indians wearing coats made from trade blankets.

Indians used white, red and blue blankets. "In 1663, ten Normandy "white" blankets are listed among the goods belonging to the trader Jacques Testad dit Loforet. The term "Normandy" refers to the location of textile manufacture. In 1693, during a council held in Montreal involving the French authorities and twelve foreign Indians tribes "no less than 83 white blankets were given as presents." Another important aspect of these blankets were that some bore embellishments such as red or blue stripes at their borders, embroidery, and lace. In fact we see that when the trader Jean Mailhot died in 1687 an inventory of his "la morte" possessions included "seven blankets made of capote cloth trimmed with nonpareille lace". (a very narrow strip of ribbon which was made of false gold, silver or silk) Drawings by Jesuit Missionaries recorded that this trimming in many instances was done in a zig zag pattern and consisted of two pieces of lace.

The actual sizes of trade blankets also differed. During the 1690's the French introduced the "point system". The term "point" then referred to a unit of measurement. In fact the French verb " ‘empointer’ was used to describe that action of making stitches with a thread on a piece of cloth". The historical norms of these blankets ranged from 1 to 5 points, 5 being the largest and 1 being the smallest known as "cradle blankets". http://www.scarletscarab.com/blanket-history.htm

About Period Blankets. Part One.

18^th Century Wool Blankets.

White blankets were very popular in the 18th century. This white blanket coat is good cover in the snow, but not so good when there is no snow on the ground.

The wool blanket is a vital part of any 18^th century travellers equipment. Wool blankets have also been used as matchcoats and for making blanket coats, leggings and moccasin liners.

“…a most terrible Storm came on…we are quite without shelter…passing our Time sitting in the Snow under an Oak with a Blanket wrapped round us.”
~ David Thompson, Northern Plains, 1798 .

I have been researching 18^th century blankets, both trade blankets and home hand woven blankets, bed-rugs and coverlids, and the information has been very hard to find! The harder it got, the more convinced I was that this research needed doing. This research will be ongoing, as I find most of my research is, but at least I can publish what I have so far in the hope that it may help other Living Historians.

Here is my friend Mungo's blanket lean-to, which is a reasonable example of how one might construct such a shelter. More here: http://www.mungosaysbah.com/2008/10/walk-in-valley-how-to-build-simple-lean.html

An interesting historical fact is that some people in the 18^th century used their blankets to make shelters rather than wrapping the blanket around them for warmth, as in this example: “…setting poles slantwise in the ground, tying others cross them, over which we spread our blanket and crept close under it…”
~ John Bartram, near Lake Ontario, 1743 (Bartram, 38 ).  But since reading similar quotes I have found the following: in 1716 unscoured Witney cloths used for waterproof coverings or clothing were mentioned in a poem by John Gay, implying that they were widely known.

And the poem: 'True Witney Broad-Cloth with its Shag unshorn/Unpierc'd is in the lashing Tempest worn . . .': quoted in Plummer and Early, Blanket Makers, 42.

From: 'Witney borough: Economic history: economic life 1500 to 1800', A History of the County of Oxford: Volume 14: Bampton Hundred (Part Two) (2004), pp. 77-88. URL:/ www.britishhistory.ac.uk/report.aspxcompid=116956&strquery=unscouredcloth  Date accessed: 31 December 2011.
Which begs the question, were these travellers using “True Whitney Broadcloth blankets? Something to at least consider.

An old lean-to frame in Henry's Wood.

bearskin : A particular sort of thick, shaggy woollen fabric (18th century) http://belovedlinens.net/fabdico/textile-dictionary-b.html

BEARSKIN a coarse, very thick woollen finished with a shaggy nap. As well as being made in Norwich, much cloth of this kind was produced in East Norfolk. http://www.norwichtextiles.org.uk/info/research-resources/glossaries

what did we ever realize from this ample store  - why, perhaps a coat (we generally did get that) and one or two shirts, the same of shoes and stockings, and, indeed, the same may be said of every other article of clothing - a few dribbled out in a regiment, two or three times a year, never getting a whole suit at a time … all of the poorest quality, and blankets of thin baize, thin enough to have straws shot through without discommoding the threads ...

“I marched with only my military suit, and my implements of war, without any change of dress or even a blanket ..."During the post-battle American retreat from Germantown Morris was captured by British soldiers, "and marched back to Germantown under a guard." His waiter made his escape, taking with him Captain Morris’s "blanket and provisions with a canteen of whiskey ..."That night having had no refreshment and "no blanket or any covering to shield me from the cold," he asked a sympathetic British officer for assistance. After being given some food he was brought "a large and clean Rose blanket ... for my use that night, I accordingly went out into the field, and lay down among the soldiers who were prisoners, wrapped myself in the blanket, kept my hat on my head, and slept soundly through the night..." Memoirs of James Morris of Litchfield, Conn., Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty - Land - Warrant Application Files, National Archives Microfilm Publication M804, S16204.

A fragment from the corner of a Rose Blanket. The Rose blanket had one of these in each of the four corners.

Wool and woollen cloth making has been an important trade and industry in the Cotswolds and West Oxfordshire for hundreds of years. This was mainly because the local landscape is made up of large areas of open limestone grasslands or hill pasture which is very good for breeding and grazing sheep. Witney itself was sited on a fast flowing river useful for powering cloth-fulling mills and it also had good road networks connecting it with important trading centres [1]. A History of the County of Oxford XIV - Witney and its Townships
Townley, Simon(editor). http://www.witneyblanketstory.org.uk/wbp.asp?navigationPage=Brief%20history

My old white Whitney blanket, no nap left on it any more. Where it has become threadbare, I have sewn on some "real" bearskin.

Quest for the Bay Series Trailer.

Living at Hudson Bay 1743.

"The Wall’s of our housses we here Live in are 2 foot thick of Stone, - the windows small with 3 inch wooden shetter’s , which is Close shutt 18 hour’s Every Day, in the winter,



- four Large fires are made in Large Brick stoves (Build for that purpose) Every Day, which as soon as the wood is Burn’t Downe to a coal, the top of the chimnley is close stop’t with an Iron Cover, this Keeps the heat within the houses, tho at the same time the smoa’k makes our heads to ac’h, and Very offencive and unholesome,


- Notwithstanding of which in 4 or 5 hour’s after the fire is out and the chimnly still close stop’t, the inside of the wall of our housses are 6 or 8 inches thick of Ice, which is Every Day cutt away with Hatchetts, - three or 4 times of a Day we make Iron shott of 24 lb. weight hott in the fire, and hang up at the window’s of our appartments, yet will not hinder a 2 Gallon Botle of water freezing by the fire side as already observ’d.


– Cellors we have in the Said housses under the stoves 10 & 12 foot Deep, wherein we Keep wine Beer &c, tho not clear from the frozt, - and in the wett Seasons full of Water &c


"Observations on Hudson's Bay," written in 1743

Hudson Bay Trade Goods List 1740.

Taken from the Hudson Bay records.

The Hudson Bay Company.