The North West Company was a fur trading business headquartered in Montreal from 1779 to 1821. It competed with increasing success against the Hudson's Bay Company in what is present-day Western Canada and Northwestern Ontario. With great wealth at stake, tensions between the companies increased to the point where several minor armed skirmishes broke out, and the two companies were forced by the British government to merge.
Introduction
North West Company
North West Company | Introduction
Montreal Montreal. Montreal Montreal.
where is the headwaters of the willamette river
user
Columbia River in the Pacific Northwest region of North America
assistant
who were the first people to inhabit the area along the above-mentioned river?
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Native American community
assistant
what was the major trade done on this river?
user
Fur trade
assistant
who traded this, to whom?
user
French-Canadians working for the Hudson's Bay Company
assistant
who owns this company?
user
American business man, Jerry Zucker
assistant
are there any modern stores associated with this company?
user
Yes, department stores
assistant
any stores in particular?
user
Sorry. I cannot find the answer based on the context.
assistant
did they merger with any other major company?
user
Yes, with North West Company
assistant
where is this company located?
user
By this the North West Company name disappeared after more than 40 years of operations. At the time of the merger, the amalgamated company consisted of 97 trading posts that had belonged to the North West Company and 76 that belonged to the Hudson's Bay Company. When the competition between both companies came to an end, new board of directors wanted two field governors to oversee the newly defined territory, and George Simpson was appointed to the Northern Department. George Simpson (1787–1860), the Hudson's Bay Company Governor-in-Chief of Rupert's Land, who became the Canadian head of the northern division of the greatly enlarged business, made his headquarters in the Montreal suburb of Lachine.
North West Company | Forced merger
The form of nepotism within the company too had changed, from the strict values of Simon McTavish to something that was harming the business in both its costs and morale of others. By 1820, the company was issuing coinage, each copper token representing the value of one beaver pelt. But the continued operations of the North West Company were in great doubt, and shareholders had no choice but to agree to a merger with their hated rival after Henry Bathurst, the Secretary of State for War and the Colonies, ordered the companies to cease hostilities. In July 1821, under more pressure from the British government, which passed new regulations governing the fur trade in British North America, a merger agreement was signed with the Hudson's Bay Company.
North West Company | Forced merger
The trading posts were soon reduced in number to avoid redundancy.
North West Company | Forced merger
The North West Company was a fur trading business headquartered in Montreal from 1779 to 1821. It competed with increasing success against the Hudson's Bay Company in what is present-day Western Canada and Northwestern Ontario. With great wealth at stake, tensions between the companies increased to the point where several minor armed skirmishes broke out, and the two companies were forced by the British government to merge.
North West Company | Introduction
The NWC's regional headquarters at Fort George (Fort Astoria) was relocated to Fort Vancouver on the north bank of the Columbia River; it became the HBC base of operations on the Pacific Slope. Before the merger, the employees of the HBC, unlike those of the North West Company, did not participate in its profits. After the merger, with all operations under the management of Sir George Simpson (1826–60), the company had a corps of commissioned officers: 25 chief factors and 28 chief traders, who shared in the company's profits during the monopoly years. Its trade covered , and it had 1,500 contract employees.
Hudson's Bay Company | North West Company: violent competition and merger
By 1810, another crisis hit the fur industry, brought on by the over-harvesting of animals, the beaver in particular. The destruction of the North West Company post at Sault Ste. Marie by the Americans during the War of 1812 was a serious blow during an already difficult time. In addition, the company was hurt by the refusal after the war of the United States to let Canadian traders freely cross its northern border. This reduced much of the border trade, which had previously been profitable for them, and artificially divided traders' relations with those several Native American tribes whose territories spanned the border.
North West Company | Forced merger
The North West Company (NWC) was the main rival in the fur trade. The competition led to the small Pemmican War in 1816. The Battle of Seven Oaks on 19 June 1816 was the climax of the long dispute. In 1821, the North West Company of Montreal and Hudson's Bay Company were forcibly merged by intervention of the British government to put an end to often-violent competition. 175 posts, 68 of them the HBC's, were reduced to 52 for efficiency and because many were redundant as a result of the rivalry and were inherently unprofitable. Their combined territory was extended by a licence to the North-Western Territory, which reached to the Arctic Ocean in the north and, with the creation of the Columbia Department in the Pacific Northwest, to the Pacific Ocean in the west.
Hudson's Bay Company | North West Company: violent competition and merger
All these events intensified competition between the companies. When Thomas Douglas convinced his fellow shareholders in the Hudson's Bay Company to grant him the Selkirk Concession, it marked another in a series of events that would lead to the demise of the North West Company. The Pemmican Proclamation, the ensuing Battle of Seven Oaks in 1816, and its violence, resulted in Lord Selkirk arresting William McGillivray and several North West Company proprietors. He ordered the seizure of their outpost property in Fort William and charged them in the deaths of 21 people at Seven Oaks. Although this matter was resolved by the authorities in Montreal, over the next few years some of the wealthiest and most capable partners began to leave the North West Company, fearful of its future viability.
North West Company | Forced merger
In 1787 the North West Company merged with a rival organization, Gregory, McLeod and Co., which brought several more able partners in, including John Gregory, Alexander Mackenzie, and his cousin Roderick Mackenzie. The 1787 company consisted of 20 shares, some held by the agents at Montreal (see below), and others by wintering partners, who spent the trading season in the fur country and oversaw the trade with the aboriginal peoples there. The wintering partners and the Montreal agents met each July at the company's depot at Grand Portage on Lake Superior, later moved to Fort William. Also under the auspices of the company, Alexander Mackenzie conducted two important expeditions of exploration.
North West Company | Official founding
These so-called "pedlars" began to merge because competition cost them money and because of the high costs of outfitting canoes to the far west.
North West Company | Before the Company
In 1987, the northern trading posts of the Hudson's Bay Company were sold to an employee consortium that revived the name The North West Company in 1990. The new company is a grocery and merchandise store chain based in Winnipeg, with stores in Northern Canada, Alaska, US Pacific territories and the Caribbean. Its headquarters are across the street from the Forts Rouge, Garry, and Gibraltar National Historic Site of Canada, the site of an old North West Company fort.
North West Company | Revival
Alexander Henry the younger was an XY winterer. They built a number of posts close to NWC and HBC posts. The murder of an HBC man by an XY man at Fort de l'Isle led to the Canada Jurisdiction Act which extended Quebec law to western Canada. In 1804 it merged with the NWC, having 25% interest in the combined company. The South West Company: was an 1811 attempted partnership between two North West Company firms (McTavish, McGillivrays & Co and Forsyth, Richardson & Co) and John Jacob Astor to import goods through New York and deal with the Great Lakes trade.
North West Company | Organizational history
NBC pursued a policy of merging subsidiaries to form larger regional companies. At the same time some of its operations and depots passed to passenger transport executives. On 1 January 1972, North Western was split up: part going to the SELNEC PTE, the remainder to Crosville and Trent. In 1973 the operations of Midland Red within the area of West Midlands PTE passed to the executive. By 1978 the following bus-operating companies existed:
National Bus Company (UK) | Consolidation
The North West Company is a multinational Canadian grocery and retail company which operates stores in Canada's western provinces and northern territories, as well as the US states of Alaska, Hawaii, and several other countries and US territories in Oceania and the Caribbean. The company traces its history back to the North West Company, a fur trading business headquartered in the city of Montreal in British North America from 1779 to 1821. It was merged into the Hudson's Bay Company in 1821. The enterprise continued as the Fur Trade Department, and then the Northern Stores Division of Hudson's Bay Company.
The North West Company | Introduction
Hostilities between the North West and Hudson’s Bay companies came to a swift end when the two merged the following year in 1821. The merger was the result of declining profits on both sides and pressure from the British government to settle their differences. In fact, with the merger, many of the combatants of the Pemmican War worked side-by-side, seemingly forgetting their past aggressions.
Pemmican War | Merger of the two companies
This formed the basis of the company's Toronto-area network, and was soon joined by new east-west lines to compete with the CP.
Hamilton and North-Western Railway | Merger with Northern
They also operated a store in what were then known as the Sandwich Islands (Hawai'i), engaging in merchant shipping to the islands between 1828 and 1859.
Hudson's Bay Company | North West Company: violent competition and merger
It had escalated to a point where the master of the North West Company post at Great Bear Lake had been shot by an XY Company employee during a quarrel. McGillivray was successful in putting together an agreement with the XY Company in 1804. It stipulated that the old North West Company partners held 75 per cent of the shares, and the former XY Company partners the remaining 25 per cent. Alexander Mackenzie was excluded from the new joint partnership.
North West Company | Late 18th/early 19th century
McLoughlin was instrumental in the negotiations leading to the North West Company's 1821 merger with the Hudson's Bay Company. He was promoted to head the Lac la Pluie district temporarily shortly after the merger.
John McLoughlin | North West Company
The death of Benjamin Frobisher opened the door to a takeover of the North West Company by Simon McTavish, who made a deal with Frobisher's surviving brother Joseph. The firm of McTavish, Frobisher and Company, founded in November 1787, effectively controlled eleven of the company's twenty outstanding shares. At the time the company consisted of 23 partners, but "its staff of Agents, factors, clerks, guides, interpreters, more commonly known today as amounted to 2000 people." In addition to Alexander Mackenzie, this group included Americans Peter Pond and Alexander Henry the elder. Further reorganizations of the partnership occurred in 1795 and 1802, the shares being subdivided each time to provide for more and more wintering partners.
North West Company | Frobisher–McTavish deal
Vertical integration of the business was completed in 1792, when Simon McTavish and John Fraser formed a London house to supply trade goods and market the furs, McTavish, Fraser and Company. While the organization and capitalization of the North West Company came from Anglo-Quebecers, both Simon McTavish and Joseph Frobisher married French Canadians. Numerous French Canadians played key roles in the operations both in the building, management, and shareholding of the various trading posts scattered throughout the country, as well numbering among the involved in the actual trading with natives. In the northwest, the Company expanded its operations as far north as Great Bear Lake, and westwards beyond the Rocky Mountains.
North West Company | Frobisher–McTavish deal
Jay Gould's Great North Western Company merged with Dominion in 1881, clearly making the company its next target. Montreal yielded a 97-year lease of its lines to Great North Western in August 1881. After 1881, the company lost its dominant position, and was eventually integrated into Western Union.
Montreal Telegraph Company | Introduction
"Constituent companies of the NER are listed in chronological order under the year of amalgamation." "Their constituent companies are indented under the parent company with the year of amalgamation in parenthesis." "If a company changed its name (usually after amalgamation or extension), the earlier names and dates are listed after the later name."
North Eastern Railway (United Kingdom) | Constituent parts of the NER
The company was taken over by Thomas Ward shortly before World War II. In 1978 they were taken over by Northern Engineering Industries. NEI had taken over many big manufacturing companies, which already included Cowans Sheldon, Clyde Crane, Wellman Cranes and Smith's next-door neighbours Joseph Booth. They all became part of the Crane and Bridge division of Clarke Chapman. This was taken over by Rolls Royce plc in 1989 and by Langley Holdings in 2001.
Thomas Smith &amp; Sons | Mergers
There are historical references to a North West Company as early as 1770, including the Montreal-based traders Benjamin Frobisher, Isaac Todd, Alexander Henry the elder and others, but the standard histories trace the Company to a 16-share organization formed in 1779, which included Todd, Simon McTavish and James McGill. Seeking to break the Hudson's Bay Company monopoly over the North American fur trade, in 1780, the organization was joined by Peter Pond and Alexander Ellice, with his brothers, Robert and James, (and, later, his sons, including Edward Ellice). In the winter of 1783-84, the North West Company was officially created on a long-term basis, with its corporate offices on Vaudreuil Street in Montreal.
North West Company | Beginnings
The history of the partnership is complex, but it is necessary to keep track of who was competing with whom. Note that the definition of partner is not completely clear. For example, after Duncan McDougall surrendered Fort Astoria, he became a NWC partner with one one-hundredth of a share. XY Company or formally the New North West Company, and sometimes Alexander MacKenzie & Co. In 1798 Forsyth, Richardson & Co, Parker, Gerrand & Ogilvy and John Mure of Quebec formed the XY Company. In 1799 MacKenzie left the NWC and went to England. Next year he bought shares in XY and soon became effective head of the firm.
North West Company | Organizational history
The Battle of Seven Oaks in 1816 threatened a further escalation of violence between North West Company and Hudson's Bay Company servants. Meanwhile, in the aftermath of the battle, the NWC lost several of its investors who were wary of the company's continued existence. In a move brokered to end hostilities between the companies, shareholders in the NWC agreed to merge with the Hudson's Bay Company, signing an agreement in 1821 that saw its name dissolved and its employees & properties absorbed under the HBC name. The agreement named several persons as chief factors and chief traders at this time; with Fort Augustus consequently being absorbed by Fort Edmonton, John Rowand was made a chief trader at Edmonton.
John Rowand | Joining the Hudson's Bay Company
The merger initially retained all staff but merged the three separate boards into one. The former Chief Executive of NHS North West, Mike Farrar left at that time to become the Chief Executive of the NHS Confederation.
NHS North West | Introduction
With the closing of the Cascadia and Englewood acquisitions and completion of the restructuring activities, the Company focused on the integration of its ongoing business operations. Western made organizational changes that reduced management staff by approximately 110 positions. The corporate and administration groups were originally consolidated at Duncan on Vancouver Island, the logging operations were centralized in Campbell River, also on Vancouver Island, and the sales organizations were brought together in one office in Vancouver. Integration provided the opportunity for the consolidation of timberlands operations to increase productivity, reduce fixed costs per unit logged and optimize log flows from the timberlands to sawmills, taking advantage of shorter barging and towing distances available with the new timber tenure and mill configuration.
Western Forest Products | History
Ogden was charged with murder, and the North West Company moved him further west to attempt to avoid any further confrontations with the HBC. He served at different posts in modern-day Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia for the next several years. As a way of ending the ongoing strife between the two companies, the HBC and the North West Company merged in 1821. Ogden's violent history placed the now larger HBC in a quandary. Some in the company management severely disliked and distrusted Ogden, but newly appointed governor George Simpson pushed for his reinstatement, arguing that he had done no more than many others during the "fur-trade wars".
Peter Skene Ogden | Professional life
In August 1996, North Western's parent British Bus, was acquired by the Cowie Group. Along with much of the bus industry it was to enter a period of consolidation which saw it acquire further bus operators in the North West of England which included: In 1995, North Western also entered into a series of gentleman's agreements with other bus companies in the North West of England. The first of these was to share Merseyside's bus market with its largest operator, MTL, from which wasteful competition would be eliminated by co-ordinating the services. The second was a direct consequence of its acquisition of the Wigan Bus Company.
North Western Road Car Company (1986) | Cowie Group and consolidation
In 1820, when William McGillivray realised that the collapse of the North West Company (NWC) was imminent unless an agreement could be made with their rivals, the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), Simon took a leading role. Together with his friend Edward Ellice, they devised a plan to merge the two giant fur companies. During the discussions that followed, Colin Robertson remarked: "I like Simon much better than his friend the Member of Parliament (Ellice); there is a sort of highland pride and frankness about the little fellow that I don't dislike". The merger was completed by 1821, and having broken the news to the partners in Canada, Robertson again commented, "Simon McGillivray has carried everything without even the semblance of opposition.
Simon McGillivray | Merging the NWC with the HBC
The North West Company's head office is located in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, built partly on the site of Upper Fort Garry. This building used to serve as the head office of the Hudson's Bay Company. It also operates two offices in the United States cities of Anchorage, Alaska, and Boca Raton, Florida. , the North West Company had 4,921 employees in Canada and 1,726 employees in its international operations in Alaska, the South Pacific, and the Caribbean. and was the largest employer of Aboriginal people in the business sector. The company operates stores under these banners:
The North West Company | Current operations
As such, his ambition and forceful positions caused disagreements between him and some of the shareholders, several of whom eventually left the North West Company during the 1790s. Some of these dissidents formed their own company, known unofficially as the "XY Company", allegedly because of the mark they used on their bales of furs. Their cause was greatly strengthened in 1799, when the North West Company's hero explorer, Alexander Mackenzie, quit his old partnership and soon after joined them. There was intense competition between the rivals. When Simon McTavish died on July 6, 1804, the new head William McGillivray set out to put an end to the four years' rivalry.
North West Company | Late 18th/early 19th century
The western fur trade collapsed during the British conquest of Canada but it was soon restored by English-speakers. These so-called "Pedlars" joined together to form the North West Company. The Hudson's Bay Company responded by building posts inland, starting with Cumberland House, Saskatchewan in 1774. Competition between the HBC and NWC led to a great expansion to trade and exploration until the merger of the two companies in 1821. Pedlars reached Lake Winnipeg by 1767 and Fort des Épinettes west of Lake Manitoba in 1768. By the 1770s they were on the lower Saskatchewan River. The NWC reached the Swan River in 1787 and in the 1790s many posts were built on the upper Assiniboine.
Assiniboine River fur trade | English Period
"The board's area was defined as: Cumberland, Westmorland and parts of Cheshire, Derbyshire, Lancashire (including Manchester) and of the West Riding of Yorkshire."
List of pre-nationalisation UK electric power companies | Companies merged into North Western Electricity Board (NORWEB)
In 1987, the division was acquired by a group of investors and in the 1990s it was relaunched as The North West Company. It is now a publicly traded company and is composed mainly of the old HBC Northern Stores Division. The Alaska Commercial Company, which makes up The North West Company's Alaskan operations, traced its roots back to the Russian-American Company. Cost-U-Less, which operates in Hawaii, the South Pacific and the Caribbean, was acquired in 2007. In 2017, 76% of Roadtown Wholesale Trading Ltd, which operates in the British Virgin Islands was acquired.
The North West Company | Introduction
In the 1821 merger with the North West Company, the Hudson's Bay Company gained control of North West Company trading posts west of the Rocky Mountains. They established headquarters at Fort George (formerly Astoria). George Simpson, Governor of Hudson's Bay Company, visited the Columbia District in 1824–25, journeying from York Factory. He investigated a quicker route than previously used, following the Saskatchewan River and crossing the mountains at Athabasca Pass. This route was thereafter followed by the York Factory Express brigades.
John McLoughlin | Hudson's Bay Company
The late-1960s changed the company a great deal. In 1966, the receiver of Crossley Brothers sold the Crossley-Premier Engines and Furnival and Co businesses to Belliss and Morcom. In 1968, the company agreed a merger with W.H. Allen, Sons and Co. The new Amalgamated Power Engineering was owned 60% by Allen's and 40% by B&M shareholders. In 1981 Amalgamated Power Engineering was acquired by Northern Engineering Industries plc, based in Gosforth, Newcastle upon Tyne. NEI shut most of the old central-Birmingham factories, consolidated the products around compressors, and moved the company to Redditch. NEI itself was then acquired by Rolls Royce plc in 1989.
Belliss and Morcom | Merger
In 1821, the Northwest Company and the Hudson's Bay Company merged under the name of the latter. By 1825, Sir George Simpson advanced from the junior governor in charge of the company's Northern Department to be the head of this new company. Simpson traveled throughout the Northwest. For forty years he led the company. For most of that time, he made at least one major journey by canoe every year.
History of the Northwest Territories | Merger of the trading companies
Trading goods were advanced to them on credit by the agents of Montreal. They wintered in the interior, managing a district with several trading posts, and were in charge of the actual trade with the Indians. During the summer, the agents and the associates met at Fort William. The wintering partners normally began their career path as clerks.
North West Company | Bourgeois
In June 1879, to the great consternation of the cities that had put up bonuses, the H&NW accepted a bid from the Northern to merge their operations into the new Northern and Northwestern Railway (N&NW). The H&NW's station on Walnut was abandoned in favour of the Northern's on St. Paul Street to the east, and plans for their own wharf and silo were abandoned. The Northern was at that time a Provincial gauge line, and directly connecting the two in Collingwood was not possible. The Northern lines were switched to Standard gauge in sections during 1881. In 1882 the Canadian Pacific Railway reached North Bay, some distance north of Barrie.
Hamilton and North-Western Railway | Merger with Northern
On the formation of the London & North Western Railway (LNWR) on 16 July 1846, he became a director of the new large company, serving until 18 May 1859. He also served as the company secretary for the LNWR's Northern Division for a year, being the first person to do so.
Henry Booth | After the merger
At the time, US West had been attempting to merge with Global Crossing, but for months this deal had been stalled through the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). US West management publicly refused Qwest's offer. Qwest eventually purchased enough US West stock to enable Qwest to take control of the Board of Directors in March 2000. On June 30, 2000, US West, Inc. and Qwest Communications International, Inc. combined via merger. US West, Inc. was merged into Qwest Communications International, Inc. with all of US West's direct subsidiaries becoming direct subsidiaries of Qwest.
US West | Merger with Qwest
In 1846 it was absorbed by the Newcastle and Darlington Junction Railway. Soon afterwards, the combined company was renamed the York and Newcastle Railway. In 1847, this amalgamated with the Newcastle and Berwick Railway to form the York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway and this amalgamated with other railways in 1854 to form the North Eastern Railway (NER).
Great North of England Railway | Mergers
It was mostly blocked by the War of 1812 but remnants existed until at least 1820. Astor had been dealing with the NWC since around 1787.
North West Company | Organizational history
For several years, they tried to sell furs directly to China, using American ships to avoid the British East India Company's monopoly, but little profit was made there. The company also expanded into the United States' Northwest Territory (today's Midwest of Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Wisconsin). In 1796, to better position themselves in the increasingly global market, where politics played a major role, the North West Company briefly established an agency in New York City.
North West Company | Frobisher–McTavish deal
As the railhead began to approach North Bay, a new railway rush broke out to connect the CP line to Toronto. The Northern was an obvious choice as a starting point as by this time they had constructed an extension to Bracebridge, Ontario and had most of the good routes west of Lake Simcoe locked up. The merger with the H&NW provided the capital and cashflow needed to build the remaining section, the Northern and Pacific Junction Railway, which reached North Bay in 1886. The next year, the rapidly expanding Grand Trunk purchased a controlling interest in the N&NW, and a completed the takeover on 24 January 1888.
Hamilton and North-Western Railway | Merger with Northern
Thomas McKay joined the North West Company after the failure of the Pacific Fur Company in 1813. Between 1815 and 1819 Thomas was in the Red River Colony and fought on the side of the North West Company and the Métis people against the Hudson's Bay Company. McKay fought at the 1816 Battle of Seven Oaks. By 1819 he was back on the Columbia. Within two years the entire North West Company was merged into the Hudson's Bay Company.
Thomas McKay (fur trader) | North West Company
The French controlled much of what is now Canada in the early 1700s. As a result, their traders had a large fur trading network. After the conquest of New France by the British in 1763, French traders founded the North West Company and continued expanding their fur trade into the Canadian interior. The competition with the Hudson's Bay Company led to a massive environmental impact with numerous fur trade posts being built, the interior of Canada being explored, and the beaver population being exhausted. The fur trade created conflict which increased tensions between the British, French and the Aboriginals.
The North West Company | Brief history
Stock in all three companies was also placed under the control of a committee, consisting of Charles T. Barney, George R. Sheldon, Hosmer B. Parsons, Emerson McMillin, Oakleigh Thorne, and William H. Leupp. A vote to ratify the merger was called for April 18, 1905.
North American Trust Company | 1905: Acquisition by Trust Company of America
The partners were himself, his brother Duncan, their brother-in-law Angus Shaw, and the two Hallowell brothers, James and William. The London firm of McTavish, Fraser & Co., remained unchanged except for McGillivray bringing in another brother, Simon. Due to rising costs within the NWC, he reduced manpower and curtailed the various costly habits of the living and travelling arrangements of the proprietors.
William McGillivray | North West Company
In 2012, the directors approached London Capital Credit Union, whose origins in Islington mirrored Barnet Council Employees Credit Union, with a view to merger. After 15 years independent trading, the credit union transferred engagements to its larger neighbour in 2013.
North West London Credit Union | History
North West Africa Company is a ex-British international trading company, founded by Donald Mackenzie in 1874 after securing bank financing with the guarantee of businessmen from Manchester. Since 1882 It was taken from Port Victoria in Tarfaya as its headquarters for the purpose of dealing with commercial caravans linking Noun River and Timbuktu.
British North West Africa Company | Introduction
He joined the North West Company in the winter of 1820, reaching Montreal in January 1821. Before leaving for his three-year apprenticeship in May, he studied French for several months with two other trappers under the anglophile curate of St Michel d'Yamaska, Pierre Gibert. The same year, the NWC merged with its long-time rival the Hudson's Bay Company. McLean's apprenticeship transferred to the new company, but his memoirs show that he never abandoned his preference for the old one: "From 1674 to 1813 the Hudson's Bay Company slumbered at its posts along the shores of Hudson's Bay, never attempting to penetrate beyond the banks of the Saskatchewan, until the North-Westers led and cleared the way"...
John McLean (explorer) | With the North West Company
Like its peer Western Mining, North developed into a large diversified resources company with one special world class asset that attracted attention from huge mining companies across the world. In the case of Western Mining it was the Olympic Dam copper, gold and uranium deposit, for North it was Robe River Iron. In 2000 a bidding war for North broke out when Rio Tinto launched a hostile takeover at $3.80 a share. This was topped by an Anglo American bid of $4.20, Rio Tinto responded with a successful offer of $4.75 per share. The company was delisted and after the takeover, Rio Tinto integrated most of North's assets into its own operations, but sold others such as the Northparkes.
North Limited | Takeover
It was led by businessmen Benjamin Frobisher, his brother, Joseph, and McTavish, along with investor-partners who included the Ellices, Robert Grant, Nicholas Montour, Patrick Small, William Holmes, and George McBeath.
North West Company | Beginnings
The North Western State Railway network was formed by merging several major and minor railways together. These included:
North Western State Railway | Mergers
In August 2012, the company merged with Neutron Energy, Inc.
Westwater Resources | Company History
In 1924, The Enterprise Engine and Machinery Company merged with the Western Machinery Company of Los Angeles. This merger made the new organization the premier manufacturer of internal combustion engines on the west coast. In an effort to diversify the range of products, the company began selling oil burners and food processing equipments.
Enterprise Engine | Merger with Western Machinery Company
The construction of a new manufacturing plant started in 1913 at Shearer Street in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, as preparations began for the two manufacturing companies' integration. Then, in January 1914, the Northern Electric and Manufacturing Company and the Imperial Wire and Cable Company merged into the "Northern Electric Company", commonly known simply as Northern Electric, and the new company opened the doors on a new manufacturing plant in January 1915. This facility at Shearer Street was the primary manufacturing centre until the mid-1950s. Edward Fleetford Sise was the president and his brother Paul Fleetford Sise was the vice-president and general manager.
Nortel | Northern Electric Company
U S WEST, since 1984, had been selling telephone equipment under the Northwestern Bell name. In 1992, U S WEST granted Unical Enterprises, who had been producing phones under the "La Phone" brand, the right to become the exclusive licensee to produce telephones under the Northwestern Bell name, which are still produced under the BELL Phones by Northwestern Bell Phones brand.
Qwest Corporation | Bell Operating Companies merge
On April 3, 1900, the directors of the International Banking and Trust Company and the North American Trust Company met separately. Both groups unanimously voted to merge the two organizations under the new name the North American Trust Company. The new North American Trust Company would be based in the corner of Broadway and Cedar Street, formerly secured by the International Company. At the time of the vote, North American had a capital of $2 million and a surplus of $1 million. International, on the other hand, had capital of $1 million and a surplus of $500,000. In the merger, the International Company surrendered its charter and all its assets to North American, with the new capital stock of the company to be $2 million, with entire assets of something over $4,500,000.
North American Trust Company | 1900–1904: Acquisition spree
He became a 'wintering partner', who was based in the field rather than Montreal, with two of the 92 NWC's shares worth more than £4,000. He spent the next few seasons based there managing the fur trading operations but still finding time to expand his surveys of the waterways around Lake Superior. At the 1806 company meeting, officers decided to send Thompson back out into the interior. Concern over the American-backed expedition of Lewis and Clark prompted the North West Company to charge Thompson with the task of finding a route to the Pacific to open up the lucrative trading territories of the Pacific Northwest.
David Thompson (explorer) | North West Company
Soon after the lawsuit, the Alta Telegraph Company decided to merge into the California State Telegraph Company, which itself was eventually incorporated into the nationwide Western Union.
Alta California Telegraph Company | Mergers
Not only did the merger improve the financial position of the constituent firms, it also blocked entry into the Canadian market by U.S. firms. Eventually, the Canada Packers operations were consolidated, with the meat packing and abattoir functions relocating to Toronto's union stockyards in the west end of the city. The former William Davies Company facilities by the Don River were first converted into a cold storage facility and soap works, and were eventually sold. Canada Packers later merged in 1991 with Maple Leaf Mills, a producer of flour-based foods, forming Maple Leaf Foods.
William Davies Company | Establishment of Canada Packers
When the merger took place the new company had a fleet of five ships. The idea of trading companies in West Africa to operate their own fleets was not new since many of the companies that now formed part of UAC, including Hatton & Cookson, had had their own fleets, sixty or more years before. Millers Ltd and F&A Swanzy Brothers, both African & Eastern subsidiaries, were still operating sailing ships as late as 1924; and John Holt's, the Liverpool-based company that was one of UAC's rivals in West Africa also operated its own fleet. The chief requirement of the West African trade was a fleet made up of several small ships rather than a few large ones.
United Africa Company | Post-merger
The or masters of the North West Company belonged to three different levels, depending on the role performed in the company. Montreal merchants, or were owners of trading companies and shareholders in the North West Company. They were responsible for hiring staff, exporting furs, acquiring supplies, merchandise and provisions, and organizing their shipment to the inland trading posts. For this, they received commissions, in addition to the profits they made as shareholders. Wintering partners or were also shareholders in the Company, owning one or two shares each. They were not salaried, but received their income from the Company's profits through their shares.
North West Company | Bourgeois
Until 1990, US West was a holding company with three Bell Operating Companies: Mountain States Telephone & Telegraph (or Mountain Bell, headquartered in Denver, Colorado); Northwestern Bell, then headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska; and Pacific Northwest Bell, then headquartered in Seattle, Washington. In 1988, the three companies began doing business under the US West Communications name. On January 1, 1991, Northwestern Bell and Pacific Northwest Bell were legally merged into Mountain Bell which was renamed US West Communications, Inc. US West was the first RBOC to consolidate its Bell Operating Companies (the other was BellSouth) In 1998, US West split into two separate companies.
US West | Introduction
After the split, the company, Stagecoach North West Ltd, continues to exist with the trading name Stagecoach Cumbria & North Lancashire.
Stagecoach North West | Introduction
The social dynamics of the Company was rooted in kinship and descent or ethnic origin. The Company was formed by a closed network of persons of Scots descent related through blood or marriage. Several important Montreal agents were related to Simon McTavish; and his successors, brothers William and Duncan McGillivray, were his nephews. Of 128 leading figures in the Company, 77 were of Scots descent. Due to the prevalent kinship structures, it was all but impossible for unrelated men to advance from to .
North West Company | Social dynamics
Because of significant investment in a North Sea oil play by a subsidiary, Westar Petroleum, and bad timing in a mining investment by another subsidiary, Westar Mining, the company ran into financial trouble. Investors saw their thousands of dollars dwindle to pennies. In 1995, the shares were consolidated at a ratio of 125 to 1. At the time, five bearer shares were worth 0.8% of a post-consolidation share. In June 1997, the consolidated shares were subject to a compulsory buy-out at $70 each ($0.56 per bearer share) as part of a privatization transaction by the Jim Pattison Group. However, the buyout had a 10-year limit, which expired on June 30, 2007, and so outstanding share certificates no longer have any value.
British Columbia Resources Investment Corporation | Introduction
The new company could only gain a small percentage of the trade carried out and, in 1708, finally merged with the original East India Company, in a tripartite indenture involving both of the companies and the state. The amalgamated Company became known as the "United Company of Merchants of England Trading in India". Under this arrangement, the merged company lent to the Treasury a sum of £3,200,000, in return for exclusive privileges for the next three years, after which the situation was to be reviewed.
George White (merchant) | Reformed East India Company
Astor, concerned the British navy would seize their forts and supplies in the War of 1812, sold to the North West Company in 1812 their forts, supplies and furs on the Columbia and Snake River. The North West Company started establishing more forts and trading posts of its own. By 1821, when armed hostilities broke out with its Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) rivals, the North West Company was pressured by the British government to merge with the HBC. The HBC had nearly a complete monopoly on trading (and most governing issues) in the Columbia District, or Oregon Country as it was referred to by the Americans, and also in Rupert's Land.
Oregon Trail | The North West Company and Hudson's Bay Company
In the late 1960s, the N&W acquired Dereco, a holding company that owned the Delaware & Hudson (D&H) and Erie Lackawanna (EL) railroads. Dereco's troubled railroads were not merged into the N&W EL eventually joined Conrail and D&H was sold to Guilford Transportation Industries, and is now part of Canadian Pacific.
Norfolk and Western Railway | Merger era: 1960–82
On April 12, 1905, it was reported that the City Trust, the North American Trust, and the Trust Company of America were merging in the near future, in what the "Times" called "the most important trust company consolidation of recent years." It was announced the new company would be named the Trust Company of America, with capital of $2 million, a surplus of $9 million, and deposits over $50 million, "putting it among the strongest trust companies in New York." Thorne, then president of the North American Trust Company, was announced as the architect of the merger. To facilitate the merger, Thorne employed a corporation to hold a majority of the stocks, with the "Times" writing that "Wall Street had never seen the idea applied to the control of banking institutions." Thorne and his associates formed the Broadway Securities Company to hold a majority of the stocks from the North American and the Trust Company of America "against the efforts of the minority interests" endeavoring to block the consolidation.
North American Trust Company | 1905: Acquisition by Trust Company of America
Further information on the North West Company can be found in Marjorie Wilkins Campbell's 1957 book "The North West Company", as well as her 1962 biography of William McGillivray, "McGillivray, Lord of the North West". Campbell served as a consultant to the government of Ontario for the restoration of the North West Company trading post in Fort William, Ontario, Fort William Historical Park. Campbell also wrote a book for young adults—"The Nor'westers"—which won the 1954 Governor General's Awards. In addition, the North West Company is a case example in John Roberts "The Modern Firm" (Oxford).
North West Company | Further reading
In 2019, Great-West Lifeco consolidated its three brands in Canada as "Canada Life". In April 2019, Great-West Life merged with its sister companies London Life and Canada Life into the single brand of Canada Life. The rebrand will take place in 2020, with Canada Life going to have 10,500 employees. The Canada Life amalgamation received approval from the Canadian government in November 2019. They officially begin operating as the Canada Life Assurance Company on January 1, 2020. Canada Life is based in Toronto, Ontario at the historic Canada Life Building on University Avenue. Employees of the merged companies work from five regional offices in Winnipeg, London, Toronto, Montreal and Regina.
Canada Life | Merger and consolidation
Following Dübs' death, the company expanded its export business and in 1903 merged with Manchester locomotive builders, Sharp Stewart and Company and Neilson, Reid and Company to become the North British Locomotive Company (NBL). At the time Dübs and Company were the second largest locomotive manufacturer in Britain. The amalgamated company was the largest locomotive builder in the world outside the USA, employing 7,570 men and capable of building 600 locomotives a year.
Henry Dübs | Company merger
Beyond the non-operating investors, these were some of the post proprietors, clerks, interpreters, explorers and others of the nearly 2,500 persons employed by the North West Company in 1799:
North West Company | Company staff
U S WEST Inc. was a regional holding company formed from the combination of three Bell Operating Companies: The Mountain States Telephone and Telegraph Company (or Mountain Bell, based in Denver, Colorado); Northwestern Bell, based in Omaha, Nebraska; and Pacific Northwest Bell, based in Seattle, Washington. U S WEST Inc. also operated BetaWest, U S WEST International, as well as a directory publishing company, LANDMARK Publishing, renamed US WEST Direct and finally U S WEST Dex. On January 1, 1991, Northwestern Bell and Pacific Northwest Bell were legally merged into Mountain Bell and renamed US WEST Communications, Inc. US WEST was the first RBOC to consolidate its Bell Operating Companies (followed by other was BellSouth).
MediaOne | History
On January 1, 1991, U S WEST merged its three operating companies. As part of the deal, Northwestern Bell and Pacific Bell were folded into Mountain Bell Mountain States Telephone and Telegraph, the surviving company, changed its name to U S WEST Communications, Inc. on January 2, 1991. U S WEST Communications was the first local telephone company to offer [[Caller ID]] service in 1991, nearly four years before any other local [[Telecommunications company|telco]] could do so. They were the first US telco to upgrade their [[PSTN]] to electronic switching before 1990 and they were the first to offer residential and business [[ISDN]] and later, [[DSL]] services to their customers by 1997.
Qwest Corporation | Bell Operating Companies merge
In 1937, the company merged with the locomotive interests of Hawthorn Leslie and Company to form Robert Stephenson and Hawthorns Limited. The company's shipbuilding activities continuing separately. Main line locomotives continued to be built at Darlington, while industrial engines were built at Hawthorne Leslie's works at Forth Bank, Newcastle. in 1938 the goodwill of the Kitson and Manning Wardle companies was bought. During World War II, the plant was fully occupied building 0-4-0 and 0-6-0 saddle tanks for industrial use, although they did manufacture four PC class 4-6-2s for the Iraqi State Railways in 1940 (one of which was lost at sea "en route").
Robert Stephenson and Company | Mergers and closure
The British South Africa Company still exists, and is registered as a non-trading business incorporated in England and Wales, Company Number ZC000011.
British South Africa Company | Merger
In April 1995, the former Chicago and North Western Holdings Corporation (the second Chicago and North Western Transportation Company), along with the Chicago and North Western Railway (formerly the first Chicago and North Western Transportation Company), was acquired by the Union Pacific Corporation.
Union Pacific Corporation | Merger history and subsidiary involvement during the merger history
The company went into liquidation in the 1920s depression and was bought by John Baker (1920) Ltd. In 1937 the firm was merged with Clyde Crane and Engineering Co of Mossend, Lanarkshire, forming Clyde Crane & Booth Ltd. In 1961 the group acquired Carlisle firm Cowans & Sheldon & Co Ltd and Leeds Engineering & Hydraulic Co Ltd. 1969 saw the UK's three biggest crane companies merge, Clyde Crane & Booth Ltd, Sir William Arrol & Co Ltd and Wellman Cranes forming the Crane and Bridge Division of Clarke Chapman. The group merged with Reyrolle Parsons Ltd forming Northern Engineering Industries in 1977 and in 1978 took over Booth's neighbours Thomas Smith & Sons.
Joseph Booth &amp; Bros | Mergers
NBC split Western National into four new companies on 1 January 1983, one of which was Devon General Limited. This operated in south and east Devon as the old Devon General had done, but the Tiverton area became a part of a new North Devon operation.
Devon General | National Bus Company
Much of North's growth since the 1960s has been due to mergers and acquisitions of smaller clubs. In 1967 North absorbed the neighbouring Neptune P&I club, bringing a number of Irish and Yugoslav vessels. On 20 February 1998 it merged with the Newcastle club, adding some 5 million GT of shipping and 30 staff. Two years later North absorbed the business of the Liverpool and London club, adding another 5 million GT. In 2000 it also established North Insurance Management Limited (NIML) as a wholly owned management subsidiary. On 28 February 2014 North acquired Sunderland Marine Mutual Insurance Company Limited, a leading insurer of fishing vessels, small craft and aquaculture risks, with over 29,000 policies in 50 countries and over 100 staff.
North of England P&amp;I Association | Corporate development
Westcoast merged with XMA, a printer consumables distributor, in 2008. However, no operations were consolidated and XMA continued as a distinct brand and entity. XMA also had a distribution centre in Milton Keynes. The XMA operation was merged with Viglen in 2014. Westcoast bought Nottingham, UK based ArtSystems in 2016. The company supply 3d printing equipment.
Westcoast Limited | XMA merger
In March 2020, The North West Company announced that it would sell 34 of its 46 franchises to Giant Tiger, while closing six underperforming locations, maintaining five in northern markets, and converting one (Prince Albert) to a different banner.
Giant Tiger | Changes in management structure and key personnel
Qwest merged with "Baby Bell" US West on June 30, 2000 through an apparent hostile takeover. Philip Anschutz owned 17.5% of the resulting company. Unlike prior merger transactions between the Baby Bells, in which the acquired entities survived as subsidiaries of SBC Communications and Bell Atlantic, US WEST ceased to exist when it was immediately absorbed into Qwest with all subsidiaries of US WEST becoming directly owned by Qwest. As a condition of the merger, Qwest was required to sell off its long-distance operations in the 14-state boundary in which it provided local telephone services. They were eventually sold to Touch America.
Qwest | US West acquisition
The North West Company was merged with the Hudson's Bay Company by the British government in 1821. The majority of the NWC employees, including Ross, continued laboring at their respective locations for the HBC. Ross served another four years as factor at Fort Nez Percés after the merger. While working for the HBC, Ross explored various territories of the Pacific Northwest. In 1824, while searching the mountain wilderness of what is present day Idaho, known to them as Columbia District, for beaver, Ross came up the Wood River and discovered Galena Summit on September 18. Leading a large brigade of Hudson's Bay Company trappers, he wondered if he could get through unknown mountains and rocky defiles that obstructed his passage back to his base of operations at present Challis.
Alexander Ross (fur trader) | Hudson's Bay Company
The War of 1812 led to the complete isolation of the Pacific Fur Company. Their commercial rivals, the North West Company (NWC), based at their New Caledonian posts such as Fort St. James in the interior of modern British Columbia. To avoid conflict against the Royal Navy, the company officers agreed to sell its assets to the North West Company in 1813. Throughout 1813 and 1814, trappers who operated out of Wallace House included Thomas McKay, Étienne Lucier, Alexander Ross and Donald McKenzie. A new establishment nearby, the Willamette Trading Post, gradually replaced the Wallace House in importance. Three Americans stationed at the latter location relocated to Wallace House for the majority of January 1814.
Wallace House (fur-trade post) | North West Company
The OW&WR and the GWR had not always had good relations; the OW&WR joined with other railways to form the West Midland Railway in 1860. The WMR became friendly with the GWR, and in fact was leased by the GWR from 1 July 1861; the two companies merged on 1 August 1863, taking the title Great Western Railway for the combined company. The Stratford-on-Avon Railway company was amalgamated with the Great Western Railway by an Act of 1 July 1883.
Stratford on Avon Railway | Company amalgamations
After the French landed in Quebec in 1608, spread out and built a fur trade empire in the St. Lawrence basin. The French competed with the Dutch (from 1614) and English (1664) in New York and the English in Hudson Bay (1670). Unlike the French who travelled into the northern interior and traded with First Nations in their camps and villages, the English made bases at trading posts on Hudson Bay, inviting the indigenous people to trade. After 1731, pushed trade west beyond Lake Winnipeg. After the British conquest of New France in 1763 (and the defeat of France in Europe), the management of the fur trading posts was taken over by English-speakers.
North West Company | Before the Company
In the early 19th century fur-trading was the main industry of Western Canada. Two companies had an intense competition over the trade. The first, the Hudson's Bay Company, was a London, England-based organization. The second, the North West Company, was based in Montreal. Hudson's Bay Company was distinctly English in its culture and flavour while the North West Company was a mix of French, Scottish and First Nations cultures. The voyageurs of the North West Company were a highly mobile group of fur traders. They established temporary encampments in the forks region that later became Winnipeg. In 1809 the North West Company built Fort Gibraltar.
Fort Gibraltar | History
The North West Company was merged with the Hudson's Bay Company in 1821. Operations west of the Rocky Mountains were reorganized and the fur districts of New Caledonia and Columbia were merged in 1827 under the name Columbia Department. The name New Caledonia continued to be used for the old northern district, and in time came to be used for areas such as the Fraser Canyon and the Lower Mainland. In 1824 the Hudson's Bay Company built Fort Vancouver on the lower Columbia River to serve as the headquarters of the entire Columbia Department, which was previously the role of Fort Astoria (renamed Fort George).
Columbia District | Hudson's Bay Company
Competition caused spurs of violence in the region over the control of economic resources, escalating with the arrival of Hudson's Bay Company. The late beginnings of Hudson's Bay Company in the North-Western Territory was due to a shortage of available voyageurs and the domination of the North West Company. It was not until 1791 a post was established and was operational year-round in 1799. The North West Company continued to rise to power up until the point of their merger with the Hudson's Bay Company in 1821.
Île-à-la-Crosse | Early trading
NEI was taken over by Rolls Royce plc in 1989 and took over another crane maker, Stothert & Pitt of Bath, before Langley Holdings plc took over this part of Rolls Royce plc in 2000.
Joseph Booth &amp; Bros | Mergers
In the lead up to the privatisation of the National Bus Company, in 1986 the government stipulated that the larger business units be split to boost competition. Thus Ribble Motor Services whose operations stretched across North West England from Cumbria to the East Lancashire/West Yorkshire borders and Greater Manchester to West Lancashire/North Merseyside was one such company, and in the summer of 1986 its Merseyside - Aintree and Bootle, West Lancashire - Skelmersdale and Greater Manchester - Wigan depots were transferred to a new company, North Western Road Car Company. The North Western Road Car Company name had previously been used by a National Bus Company subsidiary based in Stockport with operations in Cheshire, Derbyshire, South-East Lancashire and what became Greater Manchester until it was split up with parts being absorbed by Crosville Motor Services, Ribble Motor Services, Trent Motor Traction and the SELNEC PTE in 1974.
North Western Road Car Company (1986) | History