Ray's study is the first to make extensive use of the Hudson's Bay Company archives dealing with the period between 1870 and 1945. These and other documents reveal a great deal about the decline of the company, and thus about a key element in the history of the modern Canadian fur trade.

Arthur J. Ray is a professor in the Department of History at the University of British Columbia, and author of Indians in the Fur Trade and I Have Lived Here Since the World Began: An Illustrated History of Canada's Native People.

'This is a grand example of business history ... [and] this important book will be the beginning point for all subsequent studies of the Canadian fur trade.'

Ann Harper Fender:

'Ray has written a remarkably smooth, interesting narrative from a massive collection of discrete bits of information, a formidable accomplishment. In his focus on particular aspects of the trade, he has provided a coherent, useful analytical framework from which to view the transitions in the fur trade and indeed in the Canadian economy and polity.'

Shepard Krech III:

'Ray offers a richly detailed narrative of political intrigue among officers, directors, and stockholders of the HBC, of government/Company relations, and of competition between HBC and other traders, as well as lucid tables, figures, and maps showing various economic patterns and changes.'