475
Dickering with the Factor
FES Title: “One Fine Otter”
Alternate Titles: Trading Post-Hudson Bay Company (1914, 1926)
Date: 01/26/1912
Size: 30″H x 21.5″W
Medium: oil-on-canvas
Type: illustration
Published: Schoonover, Frank E. “The Fur Harvesters.” Harper’s Monthly Magazine, October 1912: 650.
caption: The cunning chief follows every movement of the agentJones, Evan. Trappers and Mountain Men. American Heritage Junior Library. New York: American Heritage Pubishing Co; book trade distribution by Golden Press, 1961: 97.
caption: Indian and white trappers in Canadian territory traded regularly at Permanent factories or posts. The man seated at the table in the picture below is a British factor, or fur company agent, pricing the furs brought in to him.

Schoonover, Frank E. The Edge of the Wilderness, edited by Cortlandt Schoonover. Toronto: Methuen, 1974: 111.
caption: Dickering with the Factor

Brandywine River Museum. Frank E. Schoonover, Illustrator. Chadds Ford, PA: Brandywine River Museum, 1979: 25, 48.
caption: Dickering With The Factor, 1912

Kenney, Dave. Northern Lights, The Stories of Minnesota’s Past. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2003: 63.
caption: The fur companies set prices for furs and goods, but the traders and Indians always bargained for the best deal they could get. What trade goods do you see in this trading post?
Inscription: ll: Frank E. Schoonover / 12
Annotations: en verso on top stretcher: Dickering with the Factor / Schoonover
Exhibitions: 1914 Anglo-American; 1926 AFA; 1962 Algonkian; 1979 FES (catalog)
Comments: Glenbow #59.35.1 see 475s for sketch
seen 8/03; Form 8/03; index; edit
Commentary: In the early 1900’s, the ‘factors’ ran local trading posts in Canada and the Indian traders came each June to sell their spring catches. Schoonover visited the Hudson Bay Trading Post in June 1911 and watched the interaction. Schoonover writes, “It was not hit-and-miss affair! The protocol, though perhaps primitive to the uninitiated, was precise and great dignity was displayed.” (diaries)
Although the artist’s day book title for this painting is “One Fine Otter,” the title, “Dickering With the Factor,” encompasses more of the event and is the well known title.
For further commentary, see #473 and #474.
Provenance: Artist; Helen L. Card, Latendorf Bookshop, New York; Collection of Glenbow Museum, Calgary, Alberta, Canada (July 27, 1959)
Current Owner: