This ad intrigued me. We’ve always known that the Hudson’s Bay Company was given huge concessions for their part in developing Canada, but the thought that in 1928 they could part with 3 000 000 acres of land is pretty amazing. There’s all kinds of information available to anyone who wants to delve more into the history of the Bay, but I’ll just share a few items I found while I was looking around.
At one time, the Hudson’s Bay Company was the largest landowner in the world, with 15% of North American acreage. Their network of trading posts formed the nucleus for later official authority in many areas of Canada and the United States. Its vast territory became the largest portion of the newly formed dominion of Canada, in which the Company was the largest private landowner. Hudson’s Bay Company lands were sold to Canada for £300 000, and 1/20 of the fertile areas to be opened for settlement. They also retained title to the lands on which they had built trading establishments. That’s a lot of land! (information from Wikipedia and the Canadian Encyclopedia)
Researched & written by Kathryn Auger
