M'LEAN (John).
Notes of a Twenty-Five Years’ Service in the Hudson’s Bay Territory.
First hand account of the Canadian fur trade
John McLean worked for the Hudson’s Bay Company from 1821 to 1846. His long service took him to a number of remote and wild outposts in the Ottawa River Area, the Western Department on the Pacific Coast, the Northern Department and the Ungava District.
By the time he took charge of the Ungava District (c. 1838) he was desperate to gain further promotions and sought to make a success of the area by developing ‘an economic overland communication route between Fort Chimo and Fort Smith on Hamilton Inlet’ (Dictionary of Canadian Biography). His hunger for advancement led to a series of exploratory trips into the interior and, while economically fruitless, those missions saw him become the first European (McLean was born on the Isle of Mull, Scotland) to witness parts of Labrador such as Grand (later, ‘Churchill’) Falls. Due to the aforementioned unprofitability of McLean’s endeavours he failed to attain the recognition he so desired and subsequently retired from the Company in June, 1846.
During the first years of his retirement he wrote this remarkable book, which contains a clear-eyed critical reflection on his work for the Company and a record of his explorations. The criticisms of the Company are particularly interesting and go well beyond the settling of personal gripes; extending to a well articulated argument against the Company’s treatment of native Canadians.
It ‘… remains one of the few firsthand accounts of the of the fur trade and the administration of Governor George Simpson’ (DCB).
While COPAC records only 8 copies in UK institutions, OCLC lists numerous copies in North America.
