McTavish, Simon (1750?-1804), a Canadian businessman, helped establish the North West Company, a fur-trading company based in Montreal, Quebec. The North West Company became the main competition of the Hudson’s Bay Company, established in London in 1670.
McTavish was born in Scotland to a poor family. When he was about 14 years old, he left Scotland and traveled to New York, where he found a job with a merchant. By 1772, McTavish had become a fur merchant in Detroit. In 1776, he moved to Montreal, where he continued to work in the fur trade.
Fur-trading routes out of Montreal extended south of the Great Lakes and into the upper Mississippi River basin, and north of the Great Lakes toward Hudson Bay and Lake Winnipeg. McTavish realized that the Revolutionary War in America (1775-1783) would harm the southern trade. Therefore, in 1779, he formed a partnership with other Montreal fur merchants to develop the northern trade. Over the years, McTavish helped build up this association of fur traders. In 1784, the association adopted the name North West Company. McTavish eventually established business relationships with China, the United Kingdom, and the United States. He died on July 6, 1804.
See also North West Company .
