Norman Kittson
Encyclopedia
Fur trade
The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of world market for in the early modern period furs of boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals have been the most valued...
r, steamboat
Steamboat
A steamboat or steamship, sometimes called a steamer, is a ship in which the primary method of propulsion is steam power, typically driving propellers or paddlewheels...
-line operator, and railway entrepreneur
Entrepreneur
An entrepreneur is an owner or manager of a business enterprise who makes money through risk and initiative.The term was originally a loanword from French and was first defined by the Irish-French economist Richard Cantillon. Entrepreneur in English is a term applied to a person who is willing to...
.
Fur trader
The eighth of nine children of George Kittson and Ann Tucker, Norman Wolfred Kittson was born the 6th of March 1814 in ChamblyChambly, Quebec
Chambly is a city in southwestern Quebec, Canada, about to the south east of Montreal.- Geography :It sits on the Richelieu River in the Regional County Municipality of La-Vallée-du-Richelieu, at .-History:...
, and baptized on the 23 of March 1814 in Sorel
Sorel-Tracy, Quebec
Sorel-Tracy is a city in southwestern Quebec, Canada and the geographical end point of the Lake Champlain Valley at the confluence of the Richelieu River and the St. Lawrence River, on the western edge of Lac Saint-Pierre downstream and east of nearby Montreal. The population as of the Canada 2006...
, his hometown, both in Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
(then Lower Canada
Lower Canada
The Province of Lower Canada was a British colony on the lower Saint Lawrence River and the shores of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence...
). His parents were both children of non-commissioned officers of the British Army who had come to Canada in 1776. The middle name Wolfred was given to him to honour a family friend, Dr. Wolfred Nelson
Wolfred Nelson
Wolfred Nelson, was from 1854 to 1856 the mayor of Montreal, Quebec.- Biography :Nelson was born in Montreal the son of William Nelson, an immigrant to Colonial America from Newsham, North Yorkshire, England...
, a Sorel physician who would later become a political leader to the 1837 Rebellion in Canada. His paternal grandmother's second husband was Alexander Henry.
As a 16 year old, Norman Kittson went to Northern Michigan, Michilimackinac County, in 1830 to find employment, likely with a contingent of other youths from Sorel, mostly French-Canadians. Northern Michigan was a favorite destination for the unemployed youths of the Sorel area. He was hired as an apprentice with the American Fur Company
American Fur Company
The American Fur Company was founded by John Jacob Astor in 1808. The company grew to monopolize the fur trade in the United States by 1830, and became one of the largest businesses in the country. The company was one the first great trusts in American business...
, and served at various posts in what became Minnesota Territory
Minnesota Territory
The Territory of Minnesota was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 3, 1849, until May 11, 1858, when the eastern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Minnesota.-History:...
in the United States.
In 1833 Kittson left the American Fur Company and became suttler's clerk at Fort Snelling until 1839. He then went into business for himself at Cold Lake, near Fort Snelling, as a fur trader and supply merchant. In 1843, Henry H. Sibley
Henry Hastings Sibley
Henry Hastings Sibley was the first Governor of the U.S. state of Minnesota.-Early life and education:...
, a friend of Kittson, who had become the managing agent of the American Fur Co. offered Kittson a partnership. Kittson accepted and in 1844 established a permanent post at Pembina, at the border with Canada. Here he remained for 10 years in the fur trading and supply business with the Canadians north of the border, in competition with the Hudson's Bay Company
Hudson's Bay Company
The Hudson's Bay Company , abbreviated HBC, or "The Bay" is the oldest commercial corporation in North America and one of the oldest in the world. A fur trading business for much of its existence, today Hudson's Bay Company owns and operates retail stores throughout Canada...
. The regions in which he first operated, the Red River Valley
Red River Valley
The Red River Valley is a region in central North America that is drained by the Red River of the North. It is significant in the geography of North Dakota, Minnesota, and Manitoba for its relatively fertile lands and the population centers of Fargo, Moorhead, Grand Forks, and Winnipeg...
in modern North Dakota and Minnesota, were successively part of Michigan Territory
Michigan Territory
The Territory of Michigan was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from June 30, 1805, until January 26, 1837, when the final extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Michigan...
, then Wisconsin Territory
Wisconsin Territory
The Territory of Wisconsin was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from July 3, 1836, until May 29, 1848, when an eastern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Wisconsin...
, and finally Minnesota Territory, which extended as far west as the Missouri River
Missouri River
The Missouri River flows through the central United States, and is a tributary of the Mississippi River. It is the longest river in North America and drains the third largest area, though only the thirteenth largest by discharge. The Missouri's watershed encompasses most of the American Great...
. He used Pembina
Pembina, North Dakota
Pembina is a city in Pembina County, North Dakota in the United States. The population was 592 at the 2010 census.The area of Pembina was long inhabited by various indigenous peoples...
(now in North Dakota
North Dakota
North Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States of America, along the Canadian border. The state is bordered by Canada to the north, Minnesota to the east, South Dakota to the south and Montana to the west. North Dakota is the 19th-largest state by area in the U.S....
) as a base of his increasingly independent fur-trading operations. Pembina was only approximately 100 km south of the Hudson's Bay Company-controlled Red River Settlement in Rupert's Land
Rupert's Land
Rupert's Land, or Prince Rupert's Land, was a territory in British North America, consisting of the Hudson Bay drainage basin that was nominally owned by the Hudson's Bay Company for 200 years from 1670 to 1870, although numerous aboriginal groups lived in the same territory and disputed the...
, and Kittson's operation was by the 1840s threatening the trade monopoly
Monopoly
A monopoly exists when a specific person or enterprise is the only supplier of a particular commodity...
exerted by the HBC. He established strong connections to the local French-Canadians and married one, and traded extensively with the Métis
Métis people (Canada)
The Métis are one of the Aboriginal peoples in Canada who trace their descent to mixed First Nations parentage. The term was historically a catch-all describing the offspring of any such union, but within generations the culture syncretised into what is today a distinct aboriginal group, with...
. This trade was instrumental in the end of the HBC monopoly in 1849, as it was with Kittson that trapper Guillaume Sayer
Guillaume Sayer
Pierre Guillaume Sayer was a Métis fur trader whose trial was a turning point in the ending of the Hudson's Bay Company's monopoly of the fur trade in North America....
was trading prior to his trial that effectively broke the monopoly.
In 1852 Kittson relocated his main post from Pembina to St. Joseph
Walhalla, North Dakota
As of the census of 2000, there were 1,057 people, 452 households, and 271 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,004.4 people per square mile . There were 556 housing units at an average density of 528.3 per square mile . The racial makeup of the city was 89.78% White, 5.96%...
to avoid the periodic flooding of the Red River. In 1855, Kittson moved to St. Paul, where he operated a fur and goods business. From 1858 – 1859 he served as mayor
Mayor
In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....
. During this period, his business interests extended into the Red River Settlement, including a store in St. Boniface
Saint Boniface, Manitoba
Saint Boniface is a city ward of Winnipeg, home to much of the Franco-Manitoban community. It features such landmarks as the Cathédrale de Saint Boniface , Boulevard Provencher, the Provencher Bridge, Esplanade Riel, St. Boniface Hospital, the Collège universitaire de Saint-Boniface and the Royal...
, now modern Winnipeg, Manitoba
Manitoba
Manitoba is a Canadian prairie province with an area of . The province has over 110,000 lakes and has a largely continental climate because of its flat topography. Agriculture, mostly concentrated in the fertile southern and western parts of the province, is vital to the province's economy; other...
. Kittson was a long-time operator of Red River cart brigades on the Red River Trails
Red River Trails
The Red River Trails were a network of ox cart routes connecting the Red River Colony and Fort Garry in British North America with the head of navigation on the Mississippi River in the United States...
between the Red River Colony and St. Paul, which served his trading businesses.
Transportation enterpreneur
By 1872, Kittson joined with former competitor James Jerome Hill to establish the Red River Transportation Company, which owned five steamboats and exerted an effective monopoly on traffic on the Red River between the railhead and the ManitobaManitoba
Manitoba is a Canadian prairie province with an area of . The province has over 110,000 lakes and has a largely continental climate because of its flat topography. Agriculture, mostly concentrated in the fertile southern and western parts of the province, is vital to the province's economy; other...
settlements.
In 1879, Kittson became a railway entrepreneur when he joined forces with Hill, HBC representative Donald Alexander Smith and banker George Stephen
George Stephen, 1st Baron Mount Stephen
George Stephen, 1st Baron of Mount Stephen , known as Sir Stephen, between 1778 and 1891.-Canadian Pacific Railway syndicate:...
to purchase the financially troubled St. Paul and Pacific Railroad, which they reorganized into the St. Paul, Minneapolis and Manitoba Railway. This railway established the first rail link between St. Boniface and St. Paul, and was financially successful — the sale of his shares in 1881 made Kittson a very wealthy man. These same three men later formed the nucleus of a syndicate
Syndicate
A syndicate is a self-organizing group of individuals, companies or entities formed to transact some specific business, or to promote a common interest or in the case of criminals, to engage in organized crime...
established in 1880 that led to the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway
Canadian Pacific Railway
The Canadian Pacific Railway , formerly also known as CP Rail between 1968 and 1996, is a historic Canadian Class I railway founded in 1881 and now operated by Canadian Pacific Railway Limited, which began operations as legal owner in a corporate restructuring in 2001...
.
Thoroughbred racing
Kittson was an owner of thoroughbredThoroughbred
The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word thoroughbred is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed...
racehorses
Horse racing
Horse racing is an equestrian sport that has a long history. Archaeological records indicate that horse racing occurred in ancient Babylon, Syria, and Egypt. Both chariot and mounted horse racing were events in the ancient Greek Olympics by 648 BC...
, and his filly
Filly
A filly is a young female horse too young to be called a mare. There are several specific definitions in use.*In most cases filly is a female horse under the age of four years old....
Glidelia won the 1880 Alabama Stakes
Alabama Stakes
The Alabama Stakes is an American Thoroughbred horse race open to three-year-old fillies. Inaugurated in 1872, the Grade I race is run over a distance of one and one-quarter miles on the dirt track at Saratoga Race Course. Held in mid August, it currently offers a purse of $500,000...
. In 1882 Kittson and his brother James purchased Aristides Welch's
Aristides Welch
Aristides J. Welch was an American Thoroughbred racehorse breeder.Welch owned Erdenheim Stud at Chestnut Hill, Pennsylvania. In 1870 he purchased the mare Maggie B. B. from Captain T. G. Moore and stood her at Erdenheim. In 1872 he purchased the sire Leamington...
renowned Erdenheim Stud farm and the bulk of its bloodstock
Bloodstock
Bloodstock was an annual metal music festival held from 2001 to 2006 over two days in The Assembly Rooms, Derby, England. The event featured big-name mainstream, underground and new bands split between two stages, as well as a 'Metal Market' offering general genre merchandise and CDs...
at Chestnut Hill
Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Chestnut Hill is a neighborhood in the Northwest Philadelphia section of the United States city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.-Boundaries:Chestnut Hill is bounded as follows:...
, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
. In 1884, Kittson's colt Rataplan won the prestigious Travers Stakes
Travers Stakes
The Travers Stakes is an American Grade I Thoroughbred horse race held at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, New York.First held in 1864, it was named for William R. Travers, the president of the old Saratoga Racing Association. His horse, Kentucky, won the first running of the Travers...
at the Saratoga Race Course
Saratoga Race Course
Saratoga Race Course is a Thoroughbred horse racing track in Saratoga Springs, New York, United States. It opened on August 3, 1863, and is the oldest organized sporting venue of any kind in the United States. It is typically open for racing from late July through early September.-History:John...
. Following his death, in November 1888 his estate sold the Erdenheim Stud.
Marriages
Kittson married three times, first to Élise Marion from the Red River settlement in what would become the province of Manitoba, then Sophie Perry and finally Mary Cochrane.Death and legacy
Kittson died 10 May 1888 in a dining carDining car
A dining car or restaurant carriage , also diner, is a railroad passenger car that serves meals in the manner of a full-service, sit-down restaurant....
after ordering dinner while traveling on the Chicago and North Western Railway
Chicago and North Western Railway
The Chicago and North Western Transportation Company was a Class I railroad in the Midwest United States. It was also known as the North Western. The railroad operated more than of track as of the turn of the 20th century, and over of track in seven states before retrenchment in the late 1970s...
towards St. Paul.
Kittson County
Kittson County, Minnesota
As of the census of 2000, there were 5,285 people, 2,167 households, and 1,447 families residing in the county. The population density was 5 people per square mile . There were 2,719 housing units at an average density of 2 per square mile...
in northwestern Minnesota is named for him.