Partner

That's a Beaver Hat, and that's the North West Company story. The company traded goods for furs, and the furs became hats. On that basis, they built a global business. Fashion changed, eventually, and the company collapsed.

The partners met in Grand Portage, and the Company maintained rooms for their use. The last few photographs were taken in what the Parks Service believes to be a representation of a partner's quarters. Not fancy, but far more shelter than was provided for the voyageurs, the trappers, the traders, and the natives--most of whom camped outside the stockade.