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 For 30 years after Mackenzie's voyage the North West Company
controlled the District, building posts along the Mackenzie River, and each
summer, moving the furs to Montreal by a lengthy canoe route. The first
post on the Mackenzie River was established in 1796 when Duncan
Livingston built a fort near the mouth of the Trout River. Livingston was
killed in 1799 near the Arctic Coast, attempting to trade. The following year
Livingston's replacement built two new posts: Rocky Mountain Fort at
Camsell Bend on the Mackenzie River, and Bear Lake Fort at the outlet of
Great Bear Lake.
In 1799 a rival group, referred to as the XY Company, because of the mark
used on its bales of furs, started to trade in the same area. There was
intense competition between the two and in the winter of 1804, the master
of the North West Company post at Great Bear Lake was shot by an XY
Company employee during a quarrel.
During this period, a number of posts were built on the Mackenzie River:
Fort George, Fort Alexander, Fort Castor, and others, none of which lasted
very long. By 1805, four important posts had been built: the Forks (later
Fort Simpson), Fort Good Hope, Fort Norman and Fort Liard.
Adapted from "A Way of Life", pp 8-18, by Marianne Bromley, Department
of Renewable Resources, (RWED) Government of the Northwest Territories,
Yellowknife, NT Copyright 1986 ISBN 0-7708-7146-1
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