Rocky Mountain House National Historic Site of Canada

Cultural Treasures

Beaver Hats

© Parks Canada

To a large extent, the exploration of Western Canada during the fur-trade era and the founding and continuing existence of Rocky Mountain House resulted from a whim of fashion, the on-going popularity of the beaver hat in Great Britain and Europe.

The beaver hat became "a social necessity" from the mid-1600s until the 1830s, changing in style with the moods of fashion. Unlike the traditional fur hat, such as the raccoon skin cap, the beaver hat was a felt hat. The demand for beaver was not, therefore, as a "fancy" fur which used the whole pelt to make a garment; but as a "staple" fur which used only the underlayer of fur-wool (already separated from the guard-hairs and the pelt) to make felt. For this reason, beaver sold by the pound and not by the pelt at the London fur auctions.

The special barbed quality of beaver fur-wool made it highly valuable. The beaver wool matted naturally and easily, a necessity in the felting process. Felt is a fabric of matted and self-adhesive materials manufactured by the application of pressure, moisture and heat.

The "beaver," as the beaver felt hat became known, was made by hand in an intricate process. The foundation of the hat was a felt made from the wool of the rabbit, hare or coney. The beaver wool was applied to the rabbit wool with the cut ends of the wool penetrating and fixing themselves in the felt body, giving the hat, after several finishing steps, its "furry" nap. The finished "beaver" was cool, light and durable, but expensive.

For more than two centuries, European ladies and gentlemen continued to pay the high price the beaver hat commanded. The hat's reign was of long duration but finally ended in the late 1830s and 1840s when the "irresponsible world of fashion" turned to the less expensive silk hat.

The value of the beaver in the North American fur trade was of primary importance. As one Hudson's Bay Company officer announced: "Beaver being the Chief Commodity we Trade for, We therefore make it the Standard whereby we value all Furs and Commodities." The furs the traders received and the goods the Indians received were priced according to the current value of beaver pelts. These values were set annually by the governor of the Hudson's Bay Company in London and called the Standard of Trade for trade goods and the Standard of Furs for furs. These values were expressed in units called Made Beaver, a form of currency used like credit. The amount of Made Beaver the company's posts paid for furs changed as the demand for particular furs in the European markets altered. The company increased the Made Beaver value of the furs in greatest demand to encourage the Indians to bring in the most marketable furs.

The fur trade was a business, and the owners were in business to make a profit. In 1806-07, the Standard of Furs set the Made Beaver value of the following furs at: black bear, 5; red fox, 1; muskrat, 1/6; otter, 2; and wolf, 1. By 1837-38, a prime black bear pelt equalled only two prime beaver pelts, and eight muskrat skins equalled one beaver. At one time, red foxes had one-fifth the value of the beaver, muskrats, one-forty-fifth, and otters, from less than one to three Made Beaver.

While European demand did set the company's Standard of Furs, other factors entered into account when pelts were traded at the posts. Skins were graded by quality and size. A "prime" pelt (i.e. with an undeteriorated, thick, winter growth), was worth more than a summer pelt or a damaged pelt, designated by the terms "common" and "staged." Likewise, the pelt of a full-sized adult animal was worth more than that of a cub and, where the male and female animals differed in size, the large male skin was valued higher than the female. In 1806-07, the Made Beaver value of beaver was: large, prime pelt, 1; large, staged pelt, 1/2; cub, prime pelt, 1/2; and cub, staged pelt, 1/4.

When silk hats replaced the beaver hat in popularity in the 1840s, the Hudson's Bay Company was frequently unable to sell much of its stock of beaver pelts on the London market. Fortunately for the company, other skins native to North America increased in demand and value. Rocky Mountain House supplied two of the mainstays of the company during the mid-19th century, buffalo robes and marten pelts.

From the 1830s, the demand for buffalo robes rose sharply in both the United States and Eastern Canada. Though bulky and, therefore, costly to transport, the demand for buffalo robes spurred the company to stimulate the robe trade at Rocky Mountain House and all its Saskatchewan posts. In 1810-11, three buffalo robes were valued at less than one prime beaver pelt, but by the 1850s and 1860s, one robe was worth almost one-and-a-half beaver pelts. Prior to 1840, the value of a marten pelt fluctuated up to one-half that of a beaver, but by the late 1850s and 1860s, a marten pelt was worth twice as much as a beaver pelt.

At Rocky Mountain House, virtually every animal inhabiting the hunting grounds of its Aboriginal and mixed-blood customers was taken in trade. The most regularly traded pelts were: badger, bear (black and grizzly), beaver, fisher, fox (cross, red, kitt and silver), lynx, marten, mink, muskrat, otter, skunk, wolf and wolverine. Moose and wapiti (stag or elk) skins were also taken in trade, as were buffalo robes, skins, parchment skins, tongues and bosses (a hump behind the head providing choice meat). Castoreum (the beaver's scent sacs used to lure the beaver into a trap) was also a valued trade item. Swan and goose quills, swan skins, leather, packcords (a head band to support a pack), horses and provisions were some of the many non-fur items also obtained by the traders at Rocky Mountain House.

To transport the returns of trade, the various items obtained by the traders were packed and pressed into large bales for compactness. A typical bale consisted of 10 buffalo robes, or 45 wolf pelts, or 70 beaver and 20 badger pelts, or 100 fox pelts wrapped in four moose skins. These bales were loaded into large, flat-bottomed York Boats and canoes at Rocky Mountain House and shipped thousands of miles. The furs eventually adorned the well-to-do and fashionable men and women of Eastern Canada, the United States, Great Britain and Europe.