XY Company

At the same time, an agreement was made between on the one hand McTavish, Frobisher & Company and on the other hand Alexander Mackenzie as agent and attorney of Angus Shaw, Roderick McKenzie, Cuthbert Grant, Alexander McLeod and William Thornburn, to begin independent trading operations in 1799 and continue with these until 1805.

Due to the animosity that arose between Simon McTavish and Alexander McKenzie this agreement was superseded in 1798 when new partners were admitted and others retired.

[3] After the Jay Treaty of 1794, Britain evacuated its military posts at Michilimackinac and Detroit which meant that Canadian firms operating on United States territory had to leave, either to dissolved or to compete with the North West Company north of the international border, west of Lake Superior.

[6] The XY Company also had a post at Fort Charlotte, by the Pigeon River at the upper end of the portage from Lake Superior.

[9] Soon both companies were losing money, important fur trading areas became depleted and relations with the First Nations were impaired.

The killer was indicted for murder in Montreal, but he was set free as the court had doubt about its jurisdiction; the act having taken place at Fort de l'Isle on the North Saskatchewan River.