Lamson & Hubbard Trading Company
Lamson & Hubbard Trading Company was an enterprise engaged in the fur trading business in the Canadian North during the early 20th century, with over fourteen outposts in the Athabasca-Mackenzie River district in Alberta and the Northwest Territories. The company was in direct competition with the Hudson's Bay Company and they controlled an estimated 10% of the fur trading market in the north by 1922.
Lamson & Hubbard was also engaged in river transportation. This was primarily to service the company's isolated fur trading posts along the Mackenzie River, although the company also offered a commercial service through its wholly owned subsidiary, Alberta & Arctic Transportation Company. Its flagship on the Alberta to Arctic river route was the S.S. Distributor steam-driven paddlewheeler launched in 1920 at Fort Smith, Northwest Territories to service Lamson & Hubbard's posts along the Mackenzie River, all the way to the delta where it meets the Arctic Ocean.
The company made good profits until about 1921 when fur prices plummeted. Lamson & Hubbard had put all of its capital into expansion, keeping a small a liquid reserve leaving it vulnerable to market volatility. On the other hand, the larger Hudson's Bay Company weathered the storm of falling prices. As a result, the HBC was in a position to systematically attack its rivals' territory and business partners, which Lamson & Hubbard lacked the financial resources or manpower to battle back. This led to the HBC buying out all of the stock in Lamson & Hubbard in 1924, including its transportation wing Alberta & Arctic Transportation, giving the HBC a good measure of dominance in the fur trading and transportation industry of northern Alberta and the Northwest Territories.