Autograph letter signed by Hudson Bay Company factor Donald Ross to the Chief Factor of the Company John Stuart, describing the season's trade and commenting on the Oregon boundary dispute by HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY - Donald ROSS (1797-1852) - 1844

"Norway House" [Nelson River, Manitoba, Canada], 1844. 3pp, plus integral address leaf. Folded sheet. (Short separations at folds, hole from opening costing a few words). Strong content letter between Hudson Bay Company factors on the fur trade and the Oregon Question. Ross writes: "...Our furs, I am happy to see, sold well last winter, with the exception of Beaver, and the quantity sent home was by no means small, yet somehow or other, we cannot manage to make profit nowadays, tho' the trade was never carried on in this country with so little expense; there must be a peg loose somewhere, that is a clear case, but I shall not pretend to say where the leakage is. The trade of this Department for the last outfit is certainly very good ... and as we are now again to hunt beaver without restraint, I expect the current year will produce something even better than the last ... The Columbia too has given large return for the last outfit but its expenses, I fear, will swallow all up, and probably more; our affairs in that quarter, I expect are in a very critical state. The Americans are pouring across the mountains by thousands, and if the Oregon question be not speedily settled, some serious mischief will assuredly arise before long. These grasping Republicans it appears insist on the line of 49 to the sea; if they get that, it will be better to give them the whole, the rest will be of little value to England and will rather be a source of trouble and annoyance than of real benefit to the nation; they have no just claim whatever to any portion of the territory, but John Bull, good honest soul as he is, terrible when his anger is up, allows himself to be cheated and gulled by every body who can manage to blurry and tickle him into good humour. For my own part, I sincerely wish we were well rid of the whole concern, for I strongly fear we shall then suffer the heaviest blow that ever fell on the fur trade..." For much of the first half of the 19th century, Great Britain and the United States had jointly occupied the fur rich Oregon country (known as the Columbia District to the HBC), the northwest coast region west of the continental divide, north of the Columbia River to the 54th parallel. By 1844, however, with America's vision of manifest destiny in full swing, the U.S. laid claim to the region, launching the Fifty-four Forty or Fight campaign. Particularly debated was the area north of the Columbia but south of the 49th parallel (i.e. much of present day Washington State). Ross here argues that if that area were ceded, then the entire region to the 54th parallel might as well be foresaken. Two years later, the Oregon Treaty was signed, setting the boundary between the U.S. and Canada as the 49th parallel.